Russian troops began a critical attack on Ukraine on February 24, according to the announcement issued by the Russian Ministry of Defense, Russian troops launched an offensive against Ukraine from three different directions. In the early days of the Russian army's offensive, Russia launched a surprise attack on important military targets in Ukraine through cruise missiles and tactical missiles, thus striking at the effective force of the Ukrainian army. Russia has taken Ukraine by surprise by blitzkrieg, and recently the Russian Defense Ministry announced that it has taken control of Ukraine's air superiority, but judging from the actions of the Russian Air and Space Force, the Russian Defense Ministry seems to be a little confident.
The strength of the Russian Air Force is not comparable to that of Ukraine, but judging from the results announced by Russia, the Russian Air and Space Force has not achieved much in air combat, and the Russian Air and Space Force does not seem to have invested too many troops. The Russian Aerospace Force already has the Su-57, a fifth-generation fighter, which made its first flight as a prototype on January 29, 2010, and delivered two Su-57 fighter jets in 2021. Compared with Su-57 fighters, the Russian Air and Space Force has more four-generation fighters, including Su-27, Su-30SM, Su-35, MiG-29, Su-24 and so on. Most of the equipment of the Russian Air and Space Force was inherited from the Mantle of the Soviet Union.
In fact, at the beginning of the Russian raid, Russia announced the destruction of Ukraine's naval and air forces, but in the following days the Ukrainian Air Force had successive fighters in the air, the Ukrainian Air Force fighters were composed of Su-27, MiG-29 and Su-25 fighters, and the Ukrainian Air Force fighters were from the Soviet era, so they were quite old, but because Ukraine was an aviation power with the ability to maintain and improve fighters, it always maintained air power. Judging from the continuous launch-off operations of the Ukrainian Air Force, Russia did not destroy Ukraine's air power in the first wave of attacks, otherwise there would be no follow-up situation in which Ukrainian fighters were shot down, and the Russian Air Force also had fighters shot down.
As for the current situation of the Ukrainian Air Force, US officials have publicly stated that the Ukrainian Air Force retains most of the equipment, so it still retains combat effectiveness, so Ukraine has not lost its air supremacy. In fact, from the videos and photos released by Ukraine, Ukraine has shot down many Russian fighter jets and helicopters using anti-aircraft missiles, and on March 4, Ukraine used anti-air missiles to shoot down a Soviet-25 attack aircraft of the Russian Air and Space Force, and also killed the pilot who catapulted the parachute. 202203078/Global Defense Watch/Ali, on March 5, Ukraine released a video in which Ukraine used a man-portable air defense missile to shoot down a Russian Mi-24 helicopter.
Although Russia has military superiority, it still encountered a lot of resistance when attacking Ukraine, and now it seems that Russia is far from having air supremacy, so the Ukrainian Air Force will continue to fight in the air. Ukraine's courage is directly related to the support of NATO, which continues to supply Ukraine with anti-aircraft missiles, which can strike low-altitude fighters and helicopters, which is a huge challenge for Russia. At present, Russia has not cut off the ties between Ukraine and NATO, so NATO is constantly providing weapons and ammunition to Ukraine, and Russia must change its situation and must act in western Ukraine, otherwise it will be very passive and very far from obtaining air supremacy.