Pentagon finally gets serious about helping Ukraine defeat Russia

Ukraine has finally gotten an upgrade from guerilla warfare to serious firepower and maneuver equipment from the U.S. But where’s the airpower?

For some reason, the U.S. and NATO have decided Ukraine has to beat Russia without using much airpower.  This is not how the U.S. and NATO fight.  Irina Zubchenko walks with her dog Max amid the destruction caused after shelling of a shopping center, in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Monday. (AP/Rodrigo Abd) Cars drive near a damaged bridge following a Russian attack in the previous weeks in the town of Makarov in the Kyiv region on Sunday. (AP/Petros Giannakouris) A woman collect wooden planks in a street destroyed by shellings in Chernihiv, Ukraine, Wednesday, April 13, 2022. ( (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)) A man rides a motorbike past a house damaged by shelling in Chernihiv, Ukraine, Thursday, April 7, 2022. Ukraine is telling residents of its industrial heartland to leave while they still can after Russian forces withdrew from the shattered outskirts of Kyiv to regroup for an offensive in the country's east. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)  ( ) A woman reacts as she enters a damaged church following a Russian attack in the previous weeks in the town of Makaro on Sunday. Since the beginning of the war at least 59 spiritual sites, mostly Orthodox churches, have been ruined or damaged, Ukrainian authorities say.  (AP/Petros Giannakouris)

Russia is concentrating combat power in the Donbas and "time is of the essence," the Pentagon said.  Looks to me like Russia wants to take Kramatorsk and other areas they held briefly in 2014, and to put the so-called "People’s Republics" in Donetsk and Luhansk under permanent Russian control.