After Russia launched missile and drone attacks on Ukrainian cities on the 19th, immediately after that, the Ukrainian military conveniently released a "bombshell news" that the Ukrainian military destroyed a Russian Tu-22 strategic bomber. The commander of the Ukrainian Air Force, Oreshchuk, claimed that the anti-aircraft missile forces of the Ukrainian Air Force, in cooperation with the intelligence services of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, destroyed for the first time a Tu-22M3 long-range strategic bomber, which is a carrier of Kh-22 cruise missiles used by Russia to attack Ukrainian cities. Regarding the information released by the Ukrainian military, even if the Russian side did not admit it, it did not deny it, what was not denied is that a Russian Tu-22M3 strategic bomber did crash in the Stavropol region of southern Russia on the morning of the 19th, and the four pilots on board have ejected and escaped, three of them have been rescued, and the search for the fourth pilot continues. What is not admitted is that the bomber was shot down by the Ukrainian army. If the Ukrainian side's statement is true, this may mean that the situation on the Russian-Ukrainian front has changed, and the Ukrainian army has certain countermeasures against the air power of the Russian army.
Of course, even if the Ukrainian army really shoots down the Russian bomber, it does not mean that the current Ukrainian army's advantage on the battlefield is coming, these are completely different things, after all, there are still many difficulties facing the Ukrainian side, a few days ago, the commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian armed forces, Syrsky, bluntly said that the situation on the eastern front of Ukraine has "deteriorated significantly", and the Ukrainian army needs to use high-tech weapons to gain technological superiority and create conditions for seizing the strategic initiative on the battlefield. In addition, the shortage of troops and artillery shells is a problem that the Ukrainian side needs to solve urgently. For some time, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has also been constantly shouting to Western countries to seek further aid to Ukraine, in this case, news has come in recent days that 20 Western countries are ready to raise funds to aid Ukraine in order to seek to continue to fight against the Russian army. It is reported that a few days ago, the Czech Republic launched an initiative to raise funds through multinational operations, with the goal of purchasing ammunition for the Ukrainian army. According to Czech Prime Minister Fiala, 20 countries have already pledged to buy 500,000 artillery shells from outside Europe for Ukraine. These countries include Canada, Poland, Germany, and the Netherlands, as well as the Baltic States, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Luxembourg, Norway, and others.
Although the Czech Republic's momentum of "raising funds to aid Ukraine" is very large, in fact, this just shows a problem, that is, the current Western countries have no time to take care of Ukraine, and there are many reasons for this: first, Western countries have economic difficulties, and they cannot afford or are unwilling to afford this protracted Russian-Ukrainian conflict, otherwise they will not choose to use the method of "fundraising"; The productivity of artillery shells cannot keep up, earlier EU countries promised to provide Kyiv with 1 million rounds of artillery shells, but due to insufficient production capacity they simply can't do it, and the current verified inventory of artillery shells of all parties, a total of only about 800,000 shells outside Europe can be purchased; Third, Ukraine cannot be taken care of due to other external factors, for example, not long ago, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky shouted to the United States, he said that Ukraine has developed a new counteroffensive plan, but it still needs American weapons. If the United States does not provide new assistance, Ukraine may face failure. Although Zelensky has asked the United States for help, the current ongoing Palestinian-Israeli conflict has largely distracted the United States, especially after Iran retaliated against Israel for its previous attack on the Iranian embassy in Syria, and tensions in the Middle East have further escalated.
It is worth mentioning that while Western countries are still trying to aid Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered conscription. Half a month ago, Putin signed a spring conscription order. The conscription period runs from 1 April to 15 July, and 150,000 people between the ages of 18 and 30 are expected to enlist. Judging from the current situation, under the continuous disturbance of the United States and Western countries, the Russia-Ukraine conflict, which has lasted for more than two years, is still difficult to calm down in a short time.