The Russians have not acquired mastery of the sky in Ukraine

(B2) This is an observation by the Pentagon. The airspace over Ukraine remains contested. And despite being outnumbered, the Ukrainians are skilled in the use of ground-to-air defenses as Air-to-Ground tools.

A constantly changing situation

It is a space dynamic “, relates this senior officer of the US staff in a briefing Monday (March 14). There are " times and places throughout a day when one side or the other may be dominant. But it literally changes hour by hour.

A numerical superiority

Despite " all their inventory and all the ammo they have ", the Russians and their planes, still have " not achieved air superiority over Ukrainian skies ". Yes " They do more outings. They have more planes. They fly many more times a day than Ukrainians ". But it's always contested airspace ».

Rather skillful Ukrainians

The Ukrainians » (1) use « very skilfully "air defense systems (ground-to-air)" at their disposal, whether surface-to-air missiles or MANPADS (2). And they prevented the Russians” to achieve air superiority over the whole country ».

(Nicolas Gros-Verheyde)

1. Note the word “Ukrainians” and not Ukrainian forces. Many volunteers from Canada, the United Kingdom or other European countries have dual nationality and military experience.
2. We must also add the use of drones or planes to destroy helicopters on the ground, as they have just done in Kherson.