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While missiles are falling from the sky and destroying cities in Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelensky is pleading for a No-Fly Zone to defend his country from Russian invasion. The Ukrainian leader has asked the world to “close the skies” or send him planes to defend against airstrikes.
“One thing is when soldiers come towards you, but when there are rockets flying from the sky and you have no control over that, that’s another thing,” Rostislav told CNN, a Ukrainian who witnessed a missile fall on the television tower in Kyiv.
According to the U.S., Russia has launched at least 480 missiles over Ukraine as Russian fighter jets attack the country, Ukrainians who have been able to hold out on the ground say they need direct air support “immediately.”
“We’re doing comparatively good on the ground. But unless we get direct air support immediately, we’re f…ed. The Russians are too many… Especially in Air force and cruise missiles,” one Ukrainian soldier told journalist Nolan Peterson.
The request of Ukrainians becomes more urgent every day, in fact, President Zelensky once again asked Western countries to send aircraft to Ukraine in case they do not want to establish a no-fly zone in the country.
“If you do not have the power to close the skies, then give me planes,” Zelensky said.
What is the no-fly zone and why is the West refusing it?
“Ukrainian women and Ukrainian children are in deep fear because of bombs and missiles which are going from the sky,” Ukrainian journalist Daria Kaleniuk said at a press conference with UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
“Ukrainian people are desperately asking for the rights to protect our sky, we are asking for a no-fly zone,” she added.
U.K. Defense Secretary Ben Wallace has made it clear that Britain would not help impose a No-Fly Zone over Ukraine because fighting Russian aircraft would trigger a “war across the whole of Europe.”
“I won’t trigger a European war. But what I will do is help Ukraine fight every street with every piece of equipment we can get to them,” Wallace told BBC.
Follow here the latest news on the Russian invasion in Ukraine
And that is because a no-fly zone refers to any region of airspace where it has been established that certain aircraft cannot fly. In a military context, it is designed to prevent aircraft from entering prohibited airspace, usually to avoid attacks or surveillance.
A No-Fly Zone over Ukraine would mean that military forces, specifically NATO, would directly engage any Russian aircraft seen in those skies and shoot at them if necessary. This would mean an even more dangerous war and could tempt Putin to take nuclear action.
“That is tantamount to war. So if we’re going to declare a no-fly zone, we have to take down the enemy’s capability to fire into and affect our no-fly zone,” former U.S. Air Force General Philip Breedlove explained to Foreign Policy magazine.
Sabrina Martín Rondon is a Venezuelan journalist. Her source is politics and economics. She is a specialist in corporate communications and is committed to the task of dismantling the supposed benefits of socialism // Sabrina Martín Rondon es periodista venezolana. Su fuente es la política y economía. Es especialista en comunicaciones corporativas y se ha comprometido con la tarea de desmontar las supuestas bondades del socialismo