NATO has recently rejected pleas from Ukraine to impose a “no-fly zone” to halt Russian air strikes. Despite the desperate times, there is no sign that NATO will implement a no- fly zone.
What does a no- fly zone mean?
It refers to a region of airspace where it has been established that all unauthorized aircraft cannot fly over that territory, in this case Ukraine. These restrictions are mainly implemented to prevent attacks and surveillance.
Hence, implementation of such measures over Ukraine would mean that the military forces of NATO, in particular, would risk a direct military conflict with Russia, which could escalate into a wider war. Since declaring a no- fly zone over Ukraine meant that NATO pilots could shoot Russian aircraft if necessary.
However, it doesn’t stop there, in order to enforce a no-fly zone; some prerequisites have to be fulfilled. For example, take down the surface-to-air missile batteries in Russia and Belarus.
The fact that it can quickly escalate into a wider European war with a nuclear- armed superpower came into the spectrum when Russian President Vladimir Putin announced to keep Russia’s nuclear forces on “special alert.”
“We understand the desperation, but we also believe that if we did that, we would end up with something that could end in a full-fledged war in Europe,” said NATO Secretary Jens Stoltenberg on Friday.
So far western nations have mentioned that they will not deliver planes as the arms deliveries would be focusing on light weapons and anti-tanks.
The no-fly zones were established for the first time during the Gulf war in 1991, where the US and its allies established no- fly zones in Iraq. However, the move was not endorsed by the UN.
Furthermore, during Balkans Conflict in 1992, the UN passed a resolution to establish NEZS and to bar entry of any unauthorized aircraft. Then, in 2011, United Nations Security Council approved it as a measure of military intervention in Libya.