If only the Ukrainians had an Air Force left......
“Without a credible air capability, Ukraine is incapable of launching any kind of ground offensive to oust Russians from Kherson or any other piece of territory controlled by Russia. If Ukraine is able to cobble together a regiment or two, supported by a tank battalion, the Ukrainian force will run into a wall of fire from Russian artillery, drones, missiles, helicopters and jet fighters. That is a suicide mission and I cannot understand why many of the military pundits populating the U.S. airwaves are afraid to acknowledge this reality. It cannot be ignorance. There is too much information on the internet that contradicts the flood of propaganda from western media and government sources insisting that Russia is stalled or losing. It is not.
.........
These guys and gals have one job–persuade the American people that they should continue to support sending billions of dollars in military gear and financial aid to Ukraine. Once the American people wake up and realize this is now a fool’s errand, the bamboozle will be over. But not completely. The propaganda campaign has poisoned future prospects for normal relations with Russia. That is dangerous. Not even during the darkest days of the Cold War did the United States try to isolate Russia and refuse to engage on the diplomatic level. A return to diplomacy appears as likely as a Ukrainian offensive to retake Crimea. It is not in the cards.”
‘Combined Arms - A Look at Russian Air Ops in Donbass’
https://sonar21.com/combined-arms-a-look-at-russian-air-ops-in-the-donbas/
“wall of fire from Russian artillery, drones, missiles, helicopters and jet fighters. “
So where are those Russian drones, helicopters and jet fighters? How come they aren’t currently in the fight?
When America goes to war we launch hundreds of sorties per day. The Russian air force has been a fringe player in this operation.
The problem is that Russia’s 40 year old aircraft have no protection against even Ukraine’s mediocre SAM defenses. Every time Russian planes overfly Ukrainian territory a few of them don’t come back.
Ukraine’s airforce is stuck on the ground for similar reasons and that has turned this into a WWI style war of artillery and infantry.
Soon, Brave Ukraine will have the USA/UK Airforce to give them the air! The No Fly Zone will be imposed by NATO! Then The Million Man Trained Ukraine Army will Crush Putin’s Army and send them packing. It will be over soon. Besides, with hand held rockets, who needs an air force? See how good it has helped Russia? No, the stingers have rendered planes as useless as Tanks or Cruisers at sea. It will be over by Christmas. Ukraine will be in Moscow by then feasting in Putin’s Kremlin! helping to establish a new Russia, a democratic progressive Russia, like Ukraine!
I see no evidence there that the Russians actually hit anything of importance. They were flying at low altitude at high speed, good for avoiding both Stingers and SAMS, but typically not terribly effective against mobile ground targets.
Now if the vid had shown waves of choppers going after ground targets, I’d be more impressed, but, Stingers ARE tough on choppers, and the Ukrainians HAVE curtailed most of that wing of the Russian forces. The Russians aren’t boasting about a lot of drone successes either.
However... I agree it is still hard to see how Ukraine can mount and succeed with a large ground offensive at this time. The Russian advantage in artillery and missiles is just too overwhelming, even if those supplied to the Ukes are more mobile, more accurate, etc.
Until I know we are supplying systems like HIMARS or M777-ER’s @ 100 or more, the above will be the case. So, I would expect more asymmetric warfare to make the Russian occupation untenable.