US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has the Nato reaffirmed no to enforcing a no-fly zone over Ukraine. As NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said, one is responsible for ensuring that the war does not spread beyond Ukraine, Blinken said after talks with the allies in Brussels. Something like a no-fly zone can only be implemented if NATO planes are sent into Ukrainian airspace and Russian planes are shot down. This could lead to a major war in Europe.
President Joe Biden has made it clear that there will be no war with Russia, Blinken added. But great efforts will be made with allies and partners to give Ukrainians the means to defend themselves effectively. Blinken also did not rule out the possibility that the United States could provide Ukraine with additional air defense capabilities. “Every day we look at what technologies we can provide to Ukraine for self-defense,” he said. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had previously urged the NATO countries to prevent Russia from launching further airstrikes on his country.
A no-fly zone, designed primarily to protect a troubled faction in a war, was first implemented in Iraq in 1991. At the time, US and UK warplanes monitored the grounding to protect Kurds and Shiites from attacks under then-Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.