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The United States on Tuesday cautioned that Russia still has a strong air force, underscoring the need to provide Ukraine with further support as Russia’s assault continues in the eastern region of Donbas.
Security officials from more than 50 countries meeting in Brussels to coordinate assistance to Kyiv discussed providing Ukraine with more artillery, ammunition and armor — but especially air defenses amid worries about Russian jets.
“Although the Russian capabilities — the land forces — are very demoralized, very, very ragged, very depleted, the Russians still have a pretty significant air force,” said a senior U.S. administration official who was not authorized to speak publicly.
“If you look at their fixed-wing and rotary aircraft, [there is] a lot of action on the border, a lot of preparations there, they can pull things out of long-term storage,” the official added.
Russia, the official noted, is “clearly … preparing for some type of offensive,” pointing to “mass mobilization” and “some prepositioning of air assets” as two main indicators.
Asked about Moscow’s plans, U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin acknowledged Russia’s capabilities, but downplayed concerns over any imminent air campaign.
“In terms of whether or not Russia is massing its aircraft for some massive aerial attack, we don’t currently see that,” Austin said in a press conference in Brussels.
Nevertheless, he added: “We do know that Russia has a substantial number of aircraft in its inventory and a lot of capability left.”
“That’s why,” Austin said, “we’ve emphasized that we need to do everything that we can to get Ukraine as much air defense capability as we possibly can.”
He also noted that “Ukraine has done an incredible job of intercepting a lot of the rockets and missiles,” and that Kyiv’s partners want to ensure that Ukraine can protect itself if Russia does bring its air force into the fight.
“They haven’t done so thus far,” he added, “because Ukraine’s air defenses have been pretty gosh darn effective.”
Experts point out that the early days of the war proved costly for Russian aircraft, leading Moscow to limit use of war planes in Ukrainian airspace.
But now, the senior administration official said, the fact that Russian land forces are depleted amounts to “the best indication that they will turn this into an air fight.”
General Mark Milley, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, described how Russian forces, despite having numbers, are struggling in Donbas.
Speaking alongside the secretary, Milley told reporters that “from Kharkiv all the way down to Kherson, the front line is quite stable — even though very violent, a lot of fighting.”
Most of the movement is in the area of Bakhmut, he added, describing the situation on the ground as “a very significant, grinding battle of attrition with very high casualties, especially on the Russian side.”
“How long that will last? It’s difficult to say actually, it’s been going on for weeks,” the general said, adding: “I don’t think the Ukrainians will just collapse or fall, I think they’re going to continue to fight.”
