# Russia invades Ukraine -- The regional situation

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-the-regional-situation/995349>\
**Category:** Politics & Elections\
**Tags:** ukraine-invasion\
**Created:** [December 30, 2023, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-the-regional-situation/995349 "2023-12-30T18:43:41Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 27

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**Author:** ![Al128](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/al128/32/16541_2.png) [@Al128](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Al128)\
**Post date:** [January 1, 2024, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-the-regional-situation/995349/27 "2024-01-01T14:35:22Z")

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> [@Russia invades Ukraine {2022-02-24} (Part 2)](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-2/973972/6643):
>
> The ground is static because the air is static, and the air is static because Russia’s air defense is not yet exhausted. When it is, Ukraine will be able to start flying a lot of planes, which will very quickly turn things around on the ground. We’ve seen what happens when NATO-quality forces with air superiority meet heavily-entrenched ground forces.
> 
> And Ukraine doesn’t have much to fill the power vacuum in the sea, but they don’t need much. All they need is something, anything, that can make it out to that bridge and finish it off. It could be a handful of explosive drone boats. It could be a few Special Forces guys in a raft. It could be anything. And once they do that, the battle for the sea becomes irrelevant because it will have been completely and decisively won by Ukraine.

I think you fail to see the scale of the front … that thing is hugely extensive … whatever AF you are, it will be spread (too) thinly.

In the era of Manpads et al - you wont exhaust air defense … and there are 1000s of those in the theater … (which makes it a scenario way different from the Irak/Kuwait war, where US-planes could patrol at leisure.

sorry, but I don’t share your optimism … esp. in light of the less-than-stellar advances of the Ukr to reach the coast (and cut off supply chains) … they hardly advanced (in one place) 10 km in the first month and remain bogged down there (and in defense now) for 5 months, while RU keeps mining the country to the hilt (and the mines were probably the game-changers in this war)

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