With 'God's-eye view,' secretive surveillance flights keep close watch on Russia and Ukraine

Circling around and around high in the skies of eastern Europe, secretive surveillance flights for NATO closely watch Russian activity along the military alliance's eastern flank. NATO policing of its airspace has ramped up since the Russian invasion of Ukraine almost two years ago. The Associated Press obtained rare and exclusive access aboard a giant AWACS surveillance plane flown by NATO member France. With its powerful radar and bellyful of surveillance gear, the French plane peered with its electronic eyes across southern Ukraine and the Black Sea to Russian-occupied Crimea and beyond during a 10-hour reconnaissance mission. It fed intelligence in real time to ground-based commanders and essentially drew a do-not-cross line in European skies.