It has been Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky’s biggest request since the outbreak of war, and was repeated once more on Wednesday after a maternity and children’s hospital was targeted from above by Russian bombs.
“Close the sky and stop the bombing,” the wartime leader told Sky News, soon after the “direct strike” on the hospital in the besieged port city of Mariupol.
Zelenskyy had tweeted that “children are under the wreckage” as he labelled the bombing an “atrocity”.
“How much longer will the world be an accomplice ignoring terror? Close the sky right now! Stop the killings! You have power but you seem to be losing humanity,” he added.
But Zelensky’s repeated plea for a so-called no-fly zone to prevent bombings from Putin’s planes has been rejected time and again, with the US and its allies fearing the move would trigger a wider world war with Russia.
What is a no-fly zone?
In recent decades, a no-fly zone has been used by Western alliances during conflicts in Iraq, Bosnia and Libya. A no-fly zone (NFZ), or air exclusion zone (AEZ), would mean prohibiting military aircraft from entering a designated airspace. It would be enforced by surveillance, preemptive strikes and by attacking any planes that violate the ban.
Why does Nato matter?
The military alliance called the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation – or Nato – and its 30 member nations are bound by Article 5 of its constitution. They agree to mutual defence – military action – in response to an enemy attack. The principle goes: “An attack against one ally is considered as an attack against all allies.”
Ukraine is not a member of Nato. But if any of the Nato countries became involved in patrolling the skies under a no-fly zone – and more specifically were drawn into direct clashes with Russian planes – it would be interpreted as an act of war by Putin, dragging countries including the US and UK further into the conflict.
Nato is anxious about further escalating tensions between the world’s two biggest nuclear powers – the US and Russia – and edging everyone closer to the “World War III” scenario many fear.
What about giving Ukraine more jets?
The West has instead been providing “defensive” military support to Ukraine. On Wednesday, defence secretary Ben Wallace revealed the UK is looking at sending anti-air missiles to Ukraine, warning Putin that the West “will not back down”.
But another proposal has been scuttled by the concern – once more – over the domino effect. On Tuesday, Poland said it would give all of its MiG-29 fighter jets to the US – a move that potentially allowed the warplanes to be passed along for use by Ukraine’s military. But the US rejected the offer, which would be in exchange for US jets, characterising the plan as “not tenable”.
Among a series of logistical problems, one question would be how to deliver the planes to Ukraine since Poland is a member of Nato, and Nato pilots couldn’t fly the aircraft to Ukraine without risking the alliance’s involvement.
What has the West said?
In Washington on Wednesday, foreign secretary Liz Truss said the Mariupol strike was “absolutely abhorrent”, but continued to reject calls from the government in Kyiv for a no-fly zone.
“The reality is that setting up a no-fly zone would lead to a direct confrontation between Nato and Russia, and that is not what we’re looking at,” she told a joint news conference with US secretary of state Antony Blinken.
“What we’re looking at is making sure that the Ukrainians are able to defend their open country with the best possible selection of anti-tank weapons and anti-air defence systems.”
Blinken said US involvement in a no-fly zone could “prolong” the conflict, making it “even deadlier”.
“Our goal is to end the war, not to expand it, including potentially expanding it to Nato territory,” he said.
“We want to make sure it is not prolonged, to the best of our ability. Otherwise, it is going to turn even deadlier, involve more people and I think potentially even make things harder to resolve in Ukraine itself.”