Ukrainian airspace remains contested as fighting ramps up in Donbas

Russia still does not control the skies over Ukraine. That is the conclusion of senior US defence officials, who say the Russian military is attempting to improve the performance of its forces as the war enters a new phase. In the opening operations of the invasion, focused largely around Ukraine’s capital Kyiv, the Russian air force was noted for its lack of large-scale operations and the hesitancy of pilots to fly effective air support missions over Ukraine. That trend appears to be continuing, at least in part, as Russian leaders shift the focus of their campaign to the eastern Ukrainian region known as the Donbas. In a background briefing in Washington on 28 April, a senior US defence official says that the Russian air effort, including cruise missiles and fixed wing jets, is largely focused around Mariupol, the Miami-sized port city already devastated by Russian bombardment. The official adds that the continued targeting of Mariupol is an indicator that Russia does not believe it has fully secured the area around the city. “They are continuing to pound Mariupol with strikes, both air strikes and missile strikes,” they said. “You don’t do that if you think it belongs to you.” The official also notes that almost all of those strikes are coming from inside Russia.<br/>