Speaking to “Ukraina stuudio,” Saks said: “This is a situation where Russia has lost a significant portion of its strategic nuclear deterrent. Russia had actually previously lost some of these strategic bombers — Ukraine has been able to destroy them before, but only single figures. But even those strikes were very significant. However, this current one is, for Russia, above all, a highly significant one on many fronts. In terms of air defense and military defense, as well as counterintelligence and the functioning of security services,” Saks commented.

“Right now there is no sign that Russia has started to work systematically to bring the situation under control. It is just fully flailing,” Saks added.

“Time will tell in the coming weeks whether Russia can still deploy its strategic air fleet, or what it will do with it come what may,” he continued.

At the same time, according to Saks, a Beriev A-50 early warning aircraft was also hit, something which Russia only has in small numbers. “At present, Russia should have only two or three left of the five or six it had at the start of the war. That alone shows how devastating the strategic loss has been,” Saks added.

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