Air Force
Fighter aviation and ground-based air defence — never ceded the sky, never controlled it.
Broad area of activity
Nationwide air defence of cities and infrastructure; dispersed fighter operations from airfields across unoccupied Ukraine.
Notable history
Survived the opening strikes of 2022 by dispersing aircraft within hours and has denied Russia air superiority ever since — the failure that shaped the entire war. Fought for two years on Soviet-era MiG-29s and Su-27s adapted to carry Western missiles, then began the F-16 era in August 2024. Its ground-based air-defence network, from legacy S-300s to Patriot, defends the cities through every winter strike campaign.
Strengths
Dispersal and deception mastery — a smaller air force that refused to be destroyed on the ground; an increasingly integrated Western air-defence network; Patriot crews among the most combat-experienced against ballistic targets anywhere.
Limitations
Fleet size and pilot pipeline restrict sortie rates; airfields are under persistent missile threat; interceptor stocks depend on Western resupply politics; contested at long range by Russian fighters firing very-long-range missiles from sanctuary airspace.
Subordinate & associated
- Air Command CentreFormation
- Air Command EastFormation
- Air Command SouthFormation
- Air Command WestFormation
- 40th Tactical Aviation BrigadeFormation
- 831st Tactical Aviation BrigadeFormation
- Surface-to-Air Missile ForcesBranch
Campaign involvement
Strategic campaign against Ukraine's grid begins
Massed missile and Shahed-drone salvos against power infrastructure open a recurring seasonal campaign to break civilian endurance through winter darkness and cold.