The Russian attack on Ukraine did not become a blitzkrieg.

On the night of Sunday, the Ukrainian air defense apparently shot down two more large four-engine aircraft belonging to the Russian paratroopers near the capital Kiev.

Western experts with accurate insight into the situation consider reports of this to be credible.

The following account of the military situation is based on reports from one such source and on publicly available information.

It suggests that Russian President Vladimir Putin and his military underestimated the Ukrainians.

Konrad Schuller

Political correspondent for the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sunday newspaper in Berlin.

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Frederick Smith

Political correspondent for Russia and the CIS in Moscow.

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Two downed Il-76 planes could mean up to 250 Russian paratroopers killed.

This apparently repeats a process from Saturday night, when the Russian armed forces had already lost two Il-76s.

The planes may have been destroyed by Ukrainian Buk anti-aircraft missiles or by fighter jets.

That can mean two things.

First, Russia apparently failed to eliminate the Ukrainian air force and anti-aircraft defenses with massive airstrikes immediately after the war began on Thursday morning.

Perhaps, it is said, the Russians' target coordinates were outdated.

Now it is thought possible that they are trying to remedy this deficiency themselves by setting up reconnaissance troops in Ukraine.

Should Ukraine be politically beheaded?

Such squads search for possible targets and mark them with signs that can be located with special devices.

Second, the reports of the four large planes shot down near Kiev indicate that the Russian advance on the Ukrainian capital has stalled.

This advance is apparently one of two main focuses of the Russian operation.

The other is the encirclement and possible annihilation of the main Ukrainian power, which for many years has been defending the east of the country against the pro-Russian “people's republics” in the Donbass industrial region.

The thrust towards Kiev could have the purpose of politically beheading Ukraine.

Possibly President Volodymyr Zelenskyj is to be captured and replaced by a "puppet".

However, conquering a city of three million like Kiev in the event of determined resistance is an unprecedented military task.

Nothing like this has happened since the battle for Berlin in 1945.

Tank troops are not well suited for street fighting.

Tanks are powerful weapons, but their crews are small, and fighting house after house requires foot soldiers in very large numbers.

Exactly how many is difficult to estimate.

By comparison, when Russia captured and partially destroyed the city of Grozny in rebellious Chechnya in the mid-1990s, it took 70,000 men, according to Western estimates.