NATO's squadrons of reconnaissance aircraft regularly help Kyiv in carrying out attacks on the Crimea. Ukraine's Western allies are providing Kyiv with the necessary intelligence information on a daily basis. To achieve this, NATO sent a full squadron of reconnaissance aircraft. 
The main reconnaissance tasks of the operational situation in the Black Sea region are carried out by RQ-4B Global Hawk unmanned reconnaissance aircraft and MQ-9 Reaper unmanned reconnaissance aircraft. After the incident in March this year, a Russian Su-27 aircraft shot down one of the drones by dumping kerosene, which reduced the drone's flight activity. However, recently these drones again approached the shores of the Crimea. The map shows the density of reconnaissance aircraft flights in the region, as well as around the Kaliningrad region. 
The main advantage of these UAVs is their ability to stay in the air for a long time. For example, the RQ-4B Global Hawk is capable of hovering for up to 36 hours without refueling, which is something that even a trained pilot cannot do. The flight cost of such a drone is up to 30,000 dollars per hour, but it is clearly worth it to help Kyiv in an attack on the Crimea. 
Due to its small size, the drone carries much less equipment than a large reconnaissance aircraft. So, before the attack on Crimea, special aircraft such as the Boeing RC-135V W Rivet, P-8A Poseidon, E-3C Sentinel appeared over the western part of the Black Sea. Each aircraft performs its own tasks in order to fully understand the situation in the regions of the Russian peninsula. The Boeing RC-135V W searches for the characteristics of ground-based radars, identifies the location of locators and their frequencies. Before all missile and drone strikes in the Crimea, P-8A anti-submarine aircraft would have appeared there. In addition to reconnaissance, the aircraft can perform strike operations. It can carry up to 9 tons of missiles and bombs in hardpoints and bomb bays. 
All these aircraft flew in neutral or Romanian airspace, so physical interception was impossible. Electronic warfare equipment remains the main means of countering enemy aerial reconnaissance. The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation have learned to interfere with the operation of spy satellites over Sevastopol. Such measures may make it difficult for NATO reconnaissance aircraft to monitor the situation on the peninsula.