 This is how Ukraine protects its fighters from Russian missiles. Every day the Ukrainian Air Force moves its fighters to other air bases to protect its combat aviation. Build Media Outlet wrote about this. According to the publication for this, Ukraine has restored all the air bases left over from the Soviet era and even highways have been turned into runways. Such operational airfields of the Ukrainian army are protected by several Patriot and Iris T anti-aircraft complexes. It was reported that the areas where the long-range missiles of the West, which are used very successfully by Ukrainian aviation, are also strictly protected. Ukraine is currently flying Soviet-made MiG-29 and Su-27 multi-role fighters against a larger and technologically superior Russian Air Force. Ankiv is also facing maintenance issues with its fighters. Going forward, maintaining them is going to get harder because they don't have access to factory parts manufactured in Russia. Bryn Tannehill, a defense expert and former US Navy pilot, told Insider, adding that Ukraine will increasingly have to either machine their own parts or get them from NATO allies with Soviet-era equipment. At present, Ukraine wants desperately to add American-made F-16s to their arsenal of Soviet-made fighter jets, asserting that the Western fighter jets will be critical assets, even if they won't necessarily be silver bullets. Although there's no definitive timeline for when Ukraine might get the F-16s it has been asking for, their expected eventual delivery and employment in battle would likely be a boon for the Ukrainian Air Force.