During the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the expected large-scale Russian air campaign to establish air superiority did not materialize. Instead, Russian formations conducted strikes in smaller numbers against targets near the Ukrainian borders. Ukrainian mobile surface-to-air missile systems started inflicting losses on Russian aircraft. The Russian Air Force appeared unprepared for a large-scale campaign aimed at suppressing and neutralizing enemy air defense systems. Furthermore, they struggled to coordinate complex and extensive formations, which could have leveraged the strengths of their diverse and modern fleet of fast jets to compensate for weaknesses. This unforeseen weakness has been a major contributing factor to Russia’s failure in attaining air superiority over Ukraine.