Appreciate the comments, typerated.
I would suspect the playout would be for USAF/NATO assets to deploy to ample Ukranian airfields built for air force operations, with developing tensions allowing for a steady supply and logistics positioning.
The ramp to US-Russian combat, I presume, and hope, will be long, and allow for an extended logistical chain, as we did in Berlin some years ago.
The facts today are that Russia can't support any sort of costly confrontation, tactically or economically. All Russia has is the retained throw-weight of its nuclear deterrent, which, reduced to its elements, is a suicide option.
The Russian Ukrainians so eager to throw in with the mother country today, will come to rue their short-sightedness as Ukraine evolves into a European nation, unencumbered by Islamist dominance.