A US spokesman said that Russian Air Force planes are now flying to Ukraine on a very limited basis and are simply launching long-range missiles from Russian airspace on Friday.
According to the American publication DefenseOne, Russian military aircraft perform about 20 times more tasks than Ukrainian ones.
About 200 daily combat sorties with attacks on Ukraine by Russia, compared to about 5-10 daily sorties of the Ukrainian Air Force, which has about 56 fighter jets, the official told reporters at the Pentagon.
A defense spokesman said that there are several reasons for the restrained use of air force over Ukraine on both sides. Both sides take into account the risks of using enemy air defense systems against them.
Commenting on the actions of the Ukrainian military, a Pentagon spokesman said that "they are moving their SAMs. They are very agile, and this has proven effective. And I'm not just talking about mobile launchers. I'm also talking about using shoulder-launched MANPADS from Russian caution pilots."
On Friday, Ukraine's defense ministry said it had shot down a total of 57 Russian planes and seven Russian drones. This number has not yet been confirmed independently, the Pentagon said.
