As the war in Ukraine gets bloodier, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has repeatedly urged members of the NATO alliance to "close the skies." This appears to be a request for a "no-fly zone" — deploying NATO aircraft to Ukrainian airspace in order to block Russia from using its air force in support of the invasion.
This notion is attracting support in the West. A leading Ukraine expert, a retired US general, and even some politicians in NATO states have proposed such a move. Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL), for example, tweeted on Friday that the US should "declare a #NoFlyZone over Ukraine" designed to disrupt Russia's air operations and "give the heroic Ukrainians a fair fight."
This is a catastrophic idea. Stripped of cant, the US announcing a no-fly zone in Ukraine would be an American declaration of war on Russia — the first major conflict between the two nations that, put together, control 90 percent of the world's nuclear weapons.
"Their nuclear strategy envisions possible first use if they are losing a conventional conflict or facing an existential threat," says Prof. Nick Miller in regards to Russia.
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