On Monday, the Pentagon confirmed that Russia had fired cruise missiles from Russian air space that targeted the Yavoriv military training facility near the Polish border in western Ukraine.
Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby stated, “This was clearly a Russian airstrike. Our understanding is that these were cruise missiles fired from aircraft long range on the Yavoriv training facility there in western Ukraine.”
Air Force Magazine quoted a Pentagon official saying, “These air-launch cruise missiles were launched from long-range bombers. Russian long-range bombers from Russian airspace, not from inside Ukrainian airspace.”
“Russia is believed to fly some 200 sorties per day while Ukraine flies 5 to 10 sorties in skies covered completely by Russian surface-to-air offensive missiles capabilities,” Air Force Magazine added.
The Pentagon pointed out that the cruise missile attacks illustrated the inefficacy of a no-fly zone if the West decided to establish one over Ukraine.
A defense official told Air Force Magazine, “My big concern is at what point do the Russians decide that they have to cut off the … ground line of communication? The supply lines from Poland into Ukraine or from anywhere into Ukraine. When does Russia feel like, you know, between the sanctions and the military support to the Ukrainians, when do they feel like that’s provocative enough to strike back?”
A reporter asked Kirby, “To go back to these strike on the Yavoriv. Did you consider that as a turning point in the war? The fact that they start striking in the West. Or do you consider that as just a signal to the west that we can do that if we want?”
“I don’t think we would reduce something like this to calling it a signal,” Kirby replied. “I mean he — they use multiple cruise missiles here. Clearly, they had their reasons for targeting that training facility. And it is a Ukrainian military training facility. I’ll let them speak to their targeting justifications. … I wouldn’t think that we would consider this or the other strike in western Ukraine is some sort of turning point. The Russians clearly are expanding some of their target sets. That’s obvious just from the fact that over the last couple of days, we’ve seen other targets hit in Ukraine. It doesn’t change — I think our general understanding that they continue to be frustrated by a very stiff Ukrainian resistance.”
Another reporter commented, “Often you say that Russia does not have air superiority. However, if Russia is flying 200 Sorties a day, and Ukraine’s flying five to 10 and can’t fly its combat aircraft, because Russia has complete SAM coverage. How is that not air superiority for Russia?”
“I’m not going get into the data metrics here with you,” Kirby answered. “We still assess that, that Russia does not have air superiority over Ukraine and that the Ukrainians are defending their space ably.”