Russia's Invasion Preventing Moscow's Forces From Gaining Control

Kyiv is pressuring its supporters in particular the United States -- to provide advanced equipment such as Patriot missiles and F-15 warplanes.

Ukraine's air defenses are playing a key role in countering Russia's invasion, preventing Moscow's forces from gaining control of the skies and helping shield the country against missile and drone attacks.

Russia stepping up strikes on Ukraine's energy infrastructure as it faces growing losses on the ground. 

"As Ukraine continues to fight, air defense capabilities are becoming critical for their future success," General Mark Milley, the top US military officer, said Wednesday..

"An integrated air and missile defense system is what is necessary as Ukraine repels Russian aerial attacks." 

Highlighting the urgency for Ukraine, the country's military said it recorded 111 Russian missile strikes and 26 kamikaze drones on Tuesday, which Milley said "was likely the largest wave of missiles that we've seen since the beginning of the war." 

When Russia invaded in February, Ukraine's air defenses largely consisted of Soviet-era planes and missile systems, which Kyiv used effectively to deny Moscow air superiority. 

That has affected "just about every aspect of Russian air power employment," said Karl Mueller, a senior political scientist at the RAND Corporation who specializes in military and national security strategy. 

Medium- and long-range Ukrainian systems have pushed Russia to conduct missile attacks to keep its aircraft out of harm's way -- a tactic that is limited by Moscow's stocks of such weapons, Mueller said. 

And short-range systems have "really limited the ability of the Russians to be able to use their attack helicopters and ground attack aircraft over the battlefield." 

Mueller attributed the success of Ukraine's air defenses to several factors, including that the country "had a lot of surface-to-air missile systems" that were "competently operated." 

Ukraine's air defenses were also almost all mobile, he said, helping them to disperse and escape Russian strikes.