The other option is to stay within Ukranian territory but increase altitude. It might not be as hazardous as entering Russian held territory, and as you mention, it's better for AA missile range. They're more visible to Russian ground based missle systems as altitude increases but might that be why there's been a focus on 'wild weaseling' those systems?
If they play this right, they can have Falcons in the air before the bomber crews know there's a threat - and every airframe downed is Ukranian lives saved.
No military background, just thinking this through. I have spent some time setting up ship-to-shore datacomms (mobile data's almost free when compared with the price of sat data) so pretty familar with the geometry.