"Russia is clearly taking a lot of risks at the moment. Obviously, they have a mandate to achieve a lot of things before the elections. They are pushing on the ground and they are taking more risks in the air than they have in the last six months," Tarien told Monday's "Ringvaade".

It seems missile shipments from North Korea to Russia have started to run out, Tarien said, therefore the Russians may be short of missiles. Now they could be trying to compensate for the shortages with air support.

"But it is certainly also a sign that the Ukrainians have discovered some kind of trick and the Russian side has not caught up yet and does not know how to retaliate," he said.

Shooting down such a large number of Russian planes will certainly help Ukraine better resist an active Russian attack on the ground, he said.

"It is helping Ukraine to hold the front line on the ground now. Until hopefully the West resumes its aid and Ukraine has the ammunition to fire artillery if other means are available," Tarien said.

Speaking about the Russian Sukhoi Su-34 aircraft, Tarien said it is a fighter-bomber, meaning it is larger and heavier than a conventional air defense fighter jet and its main role is to support ground operations.

"This is one of Russia's most modern aircraft, in active service for a dozen years. Syria was its first combat mission, so the pilots have gained experience for operations in Ukraine. The SU-34 has a lot of technical equipment comparable to modern Western aircraft. It is thought of as a good aircraft that fulfills its role. The SU-34 provides close air support. It drops bombs on the enemy in support of ground forces on the front line," said Tarien.

Tarien said as the SU-34 drops bombs from a distance of about 40 kilometers and at quite high altitudes. This makes it easy for radars to find and that's how the Ukrainians can hit them.

Col. Tarien served as Commander of the Estonian Air Force from 2012 to 2018.

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