Russia cannot overfly Ukrainian territory with manned aircraft as the Ukrainian air defense system is still active, extremely dangerous vs manned aircraft, and Russia seems to have only a poor SEAD capability.
That is why all their strategic strikes are done with cruise missiles. This limits severely their ability to inflict serious damage on Ukraine. If they could overfly Ukraine with reasonable safety they could drop far more ordnance far more accurately. And cheaply.
This lack of air superiority also makes it nearly impossible to conduct interdiction vs Ukrainian forces. If they had that ability they would be able to intercept moving convoys, trains, transient targets like accumulations of vehicles, and immobile targets like bridges, overpasses and even culverts, which are difficult to target (because of lack of real time observation), hit or destroy with their cruise missiles.
Had the Russians been able to do all that US-style Air Power flexing they would have won long ago.
If they could overfly Ukraine with reasonable safety they could drop far more ordnance far more accurately. And cheaply.
I'm not sure I would agree with "more accurately". However, the explosive weight of an entire RU cruise missile strike does not equal the explosive weight of one B-52 sortie.
I laugh every time a russian troll cheers for their cruise missile strikes.
This lack of air superiority also makes it nearly impossible to conduct interdiction...
IMHO, this is why UKR will continue to fight as long as NATO continues to supply.
Again, your entire post is worth reading and re-reading.
Thanks for posting!