A no-fly zone over Ukraine remains off the table as such a move would mean direct confrontation between US and Russian fighter jets and likely war with Moscow, the US defense secretary stressed on Thursday.
He brushed away such an option despite Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s repeated calls on Western powers to take control of Ukraine’s airspace to repel Russian attacks.
Speaking at the joint press conference with Slovakia Minister of Defense Jaroslav Nad in Bratislava, Slovakia, Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin point out that enforcing a no-fly zone actually means that you’re in a fight with Russia and that’s one of the things that US President Joe Biden underscored that the US will not do despite
Austin explained that to control the skies, one has to shut down the air defenses on the ground and some of those air defense systems are in Russia so there’s no easy or simple way to do that and there’s no such thing as a no-fly zone light.
He also noted that a no-fly zone would also be of little help against long-range missiles and artillery, pointing out that there are some other effective means of defense against such weapons used from within Russian territory.
Austin reiterated that Washington would nevertheless continue to do everything within its power to support and help Ukraine defend its territory by reinforcing the Ukrainian military with arms and munitions and also by backfilling its foreign allies’ armories so they can provide weapons of their own.
Be the first to comment