how to begin account recovery without being able to confirm phone number attached to the apple id

i am in need of regaining access to a very old apple id that i barely ever used but had created and used with my ipad 4 mini when setting it up which i have factory reset and now need to get back into this apple id to get past the ipad’s activation lock but im having a major issue during the forgot password process (on the web at iforgot.apple.com, as well as any and every other location in the settings & apple support apps on more than one other apple device) i’ve tried everything possible and it all leads me to this issue… •see screenshot attached for the exact part of the iforgot password reset process i need to get help from you all to get past and HOPEFULLY be able to begin account recovery•

i haven’t used this apple id other than the one time i used it to setup my currently locked ipad which was MANY, many moons ago - not only do i no longer have access to the phone number i’m being asked to enter as confirmation it’s my account while trying to reset my password, but it’s been such a long time that i don’t even remember the actual number so i can’t even type it in correctly and see if that leads me to account recovery.

i can’t figure out any possible way around this phone number step - i’ll never remember the number nor be able to receive anything from apple even if i did enter it properly so how can i begin account recovery if i can’t get past this phone number portion of the forgot password process? without entering the number correctly, which isn’t an option, it’s not letting me do anything at all nor does it offer me any other options - please help! there HAS to be a way i can begin account recovery since the whole point OF account recovery is to help people like me regain access to their apple ids in situations exactly like this one or at least under this same umbrella, no??

ANY help or instructions from any of you kind, more knowledgable apple community members on what the heck i can do (since i’ve tried everythingggg but this phone number issue is the brick wall i keep running into and can’t seem to get past) would be MOST appreciated ..so, thanks, in advance, for any and all of your HOPEFULLY helpful responses