Closing Ukraine airspace will be foolhardy, it is just what Putin wants

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky once again reiterated his request to NATO to declare Ukraine a “no-fly zone”, saying closing the country’s airspace was crucial to “save hazardous facilities”. Russian President Vladimir Putin, however, reacted sharply to the request and warned that any effort by any third nation to secure Ukrainian airspace will be taken as an act of war against Russia. Ukraine has been requesting NATO to term the country’s air space a “no-fly zone” to limit Russian airstrikes on Kyiv and other cities. The demand has grown louder after Russia shelled the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, and later took control of it.

In a tweet, Zelensky said, “Nuclear terrorism requires decisive action in response. At the #UN Security Council meeting, we called for closing the sky over Ukraine and launching an operation to maintain peace and security. The goal is to save hazardous facilities. The world must not watch, but help!”

Earlier on Friday, Zelenskyy had lashed out at the western military alliance NATO as well, terming its summit “weak” and “confusing”.

“All the people who die starting today will also die because of you. Because of your weakness, because of your disconnection,” Zelenskyy had said on Friday. “Today the leadership of the alliance gave the green light for the further bombing of Ukrainian cities and villages, refusing to make a no-fly zone.”

“Knowing that new strikes and casualties are inevitable, NATO deliberately decided not to close the sky over Ukraine,” Zelenskyy said in a video published by the presidency. “We believe that the NATO countries themselves have created a narrative that the closing of the skies over Ukraine would provoke direct Russian aggression against NATO.”