By Teaganne Finn -
NBC News
WASHINGTON — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has called on NATO to impose a no-fly zone over Ukraine to limit attacks by Russian warplanes, a request the West has steadfastly rejected, even as death and destruction mount. .
Top leaders of NATO - the alliance of 30 countries, including the United States - have repeatedly dismissed it, saying imposing a no-fly zone over key parts of Ukraine could drag the alliance straight into Moscow's war. against your neighbor.
[They fear a larger humanitarian crisis as Russia tries to recruit Syrian fighters to fight in Ukraine]
They are unlikely to budge on the issue for that reason, experts say, since a no-fly zone would essentially require NATO to take over the air war Ukraine is waging against Russian strikes.
On Sunday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken reiterated NATO's position, telling NBC News, Noticias Telemundo's sister network, that President Joe Biden has been "very clear about one thing all along, which is that we are not going to put the United States in direct conflict with Russia.”
What is a no-fly zone and what would enforcing it entail?
No-fly zones prevent a country from using warplanes to attack military or civilian targets on the ground, but simply declaring the airspace as no-go is not enough.
Once declared, NATO would be responsible for patrolling the area with its own planes and being prepared to fire on enemies to ensure the safety of civilians on the ground.
[What the 'Z' that Putin has made a symbol of the Russian invasion of Ukraine stands for]
“There is tremendous reluctance from the Pentagon and from the political class,” Mark Cancian, a senior adviser at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank, explained in an interview.
“The president and NATO have been very emphatic, and the reason is that it is a combat mission,” he added.
“We would be flying dozens of planes, maybe hundreds of planes, over Ukraine and shooting at the Russians, and they would be shooting at us,” Cancian said.
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"It would mean war!" Michael O'Hanlon, director of foreign policy research at the left-leaning Brookings Institution think tank, said in an emailed statement, adding that imposing a no-fly zone could mean that the NATO will use force to ensure that its own aircraft are safe, allowing them to patrol and enforce the law.
"It would be necessary to disable the adversary's air defense network, that is, not only the planes, but also the radars and communication spaces - all the people who operate them - and, unless everything can be done through interference, that it requires bombs which, in turn, will kill people,” O'Hanlon said.
[The United States secretly sends a delegation to Venezuela to discuss a possible Russian oil embargo]
The countries of the NATO alliance, which does not include Ukraine, have so far sent weapons to Kiev while imposing harsh economic sanctions on Russia, but have resisted taking any action that could bring them into direct conflict. with Russia.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said last week that although the Russian invasion was "horrible", it was NATO's responsibility to maintain the security of its member states.
The only way to implement a no-fly zone is to “send NATO planes, fighter jets into Ukrainian airspace, and then enforce that no-fly zone by shooting down Russian planes.
And our assessment is that we understand the desperation," Stoltenberg said during a news conference.
F-18 Hornet fighter jets on the deck of the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman, anchored off the city of Split, Croatia, on February 14, 2022. Denis Lovrovic / AFP via Getty Images
"But we also believe that if we did that, we would end up with something that could end up in a full-fledged war in Europe, involving many more countries and causing much more human suffering," he added.
Over the weekend, Russian President Vladimir Putin warned that any move to create a no-fly zone over Ukraine would be seen as "participation" in the conflict.
[The 2,000 soldiers who are going to reinforce NATO in Eastern Europe have already left Fort Bragg]
"At that very moment, we will consider them as participants in the military conflict, and it would not matter which members they are," Putin said.
Calls for and against
Although most US lawmakers oppose a no-fly zone, some have said they are willing to consider it or have even called for one.
Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Illinois, tweeted late last month: “The fate of #Ukraine is decided tonight, but so is the fate of the West.
Declare a #NoFlyZone over Ukraine at the invitation of your sovereign government."
Sen. Joe Manchin, a Democrat from West Virginia, declared Sunday on NBC News'
Meet the Press
that he would not take a no-fly zone off the table just yet.
[Ukraine rejects Putin's proposed civilian flight corridors because they lead into Russian territory]
In an emotional speech last week, Zelenskyy lambasted NATO for rejecting his calls for a no-fly zone, arguing that the decision was giving Russia a "green light" to continue bombing Ukraine.
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Ilan Berman, senior vice president of the conservative Washington-based think tank the American Foreign Policy Council, said that as long as Russia continues to impede the ability of civilians to flee safely from conflict zones, the calls are unlikely to stop. to a no-fly zone.
“It can be done if you pierce the veil of sovereignty to protect innocence,” Berman opined.
"The dynamic that I see evolving here is that the longer the Russians establish and then violate the ceasefire, don't allow humanitarian corridors, all of that strengthens the argument for a no-fly zone."
Jim Townsend, senior fellow for the transatlantic security program at the Washington-based Center for a New American Security, said Zelenskyy is "desperate for anything he can get, and we're desperate to give it to him."
[Putin Renews His Threats, Saying Sanctions On Russia Are “Akin To A Declaration Of War”]
"But a no-fly zone would be an air campaign, and as soon as we started that air campaign, we would be at war with Russia, and I'm sure that would escalate to places that we don't want to be very quickly," Townsend said.
When has a no-fly zone been enacted in recent years?
No-fly zones were enacted over Iraq to protect civilians after the Gulf War, over Bosnia and Herzegovina during the Balkan conflict, and over Libya during a NATO coalition-led intervention in the country's civil war. in 2011.
The United States, the United Kingdom and France launched Operation Provide Comfort in 1991 to establish and enforce a no-fly zone over northern Iraq, protecting Kurds from Saddam Hussein's air forces.
Another no-fly zone was later established to protect Shia Muslims in the south.
[Volodymyr Zelenskyy regrets that the West's measures against Russia have not worked]
The no-fly zones continued until the 2003 war in Iraq.
NATO enforced a no-fly zone over Bosnia from April 1993 to December 1995.
The United Nations Security Council authorized a NATO-enforced no-fly zone over Libya in 2011 to “protect civilians under threat of attack in the country.”