The battle for Ukraine’s skies has enormous stakes. Subscribe and turn on notifications 🔔 so you don't miss any videos: http://goo.gl/0bsAjO The Russian air force is huge. Ukraine’s is not. And yet, more than two weeks into Russia’s war in Ukraine, one of the biggest surprises was that Russia had not yet achieved control of the skies over Ukraine, or what’s called “air superiority.” When a military has air superiority, its planes can attack the enemy much more easily and its ground troops can advance much faster. If, or when, Russia achieves air superiority, it will have gained a major advantage in the war. To prevent or slow down that outcome, Ukraine’s allies in the west are working to deny Russia air superiority, mostly by sending weapons that can be used to shoot down planes. But Ukraine itself has asked for a more drastic step: the declaration of a no-fly zone over Ukraine, which would prohibit Russian planes from the airspace. But a no-fly zone is complicated, because to be effective, it has to be enforced. And the consequences of how that enforcement would play out could bring the war to places that were once unthinkable. Further Reading: Is the Russian Air Force Actually Incapable of Complex Air Operations? Justin Bronk, https://rusi.org/explore-our-research/publications/rusi-defence-systems/russian-air-force-actually-incapable-complex-air-operations What happened to Russia’s Air Force? Reuters, https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/what-happened-russias-air-force-us-officials-experts-stumped-2022-03-01/ The curious case of Russia’s missing air force. Economist, https://www.economist.com/interactive/2022/03/08/curious-case-russias-missing-air-force No-fly zone. Crisis Group, https://www.crisisgroup.org/europe-central-asia/eastern-europe/ukraine/no-fly-zone-ukraine-war-russia-another-name EXCLUSIVE Americans broadly support Ukraine no-fly zone, Russia oil ban -poll, Reuters https://www.reuters.com/world/us/exclusive-americans-broadly-support-ukraine-no-fly-zone-russia-oil-ban-poll-2022-03-04/?taid=6222a48718c5730001d48d5d&utm_campaign=trueAnthem:+Trending+Content&utm_medium=trueAnthem&utm_source=twitter War on the Rocks Podcast. https://warontherocks.com/2022/03/11-days-in-russias-invasion-stumbles-forward/ Make sure you never miss behind the scenes content in the Vox Video newsletter, sign up here: http://vox.com/video-newsletter Vox.com is a news website that helps you cut through the noise and understand what's really driving the events in the headlines. Check out http://www.vox.com/ Support Vox's reporting with a one-time or recurring contribution: http://vox.com/contribute-now Shop the Vox merch store: http://vox.com/store Watch our full video catalog: http://goo.gl/IZONyE Follow Vox on Facebook: http://facebook.com/vox Follow Vox on Twitter: http://twitter.com/voxdotcom Follow Vox on TikTok: http://tiktok.com/@voxdotcom