Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy hit out at NATO on March 7 for refusing to impose a no-fly zone over Ukraine as Russia mounts offensive from the air. In an emotional nighttime address, Zelenskyy said that the West’s military alliance will be responsible for the deaths and destruction in Ukraine as NATO’s “weakness” and “lack of unity” will fully untie Moscow’s hands.
Why hesitant to declare no-fly zone?
- Military analysts say there is no chance that the US, Britain and their European allies will impose a no-fly zone because it could easily escalate the war in Ukraine into a nuclear confrontation between NATO and Russia.
What is No-Fly Zone?
- A no-fly zone (NFZ) or air exclusion zone (AEZ), is an area where a military power has halted the operations of certain aircraft. This can be just passenger vehicles or all types of aircraft including military aircraft.
- A no-fly zone would bar all unauthorized aircraft from flying over Ukraine.
- Declaring a no-fly zone could force NATO pilots to shoot down Russian aircraft.
- But it goes beyond that. In addition to fighter planes, NATO would have to deploy refueling tankers and electronic-surveillance aircraft to support the mission.
- To protect these relatively slow, high-flying planes, NATO would have to destroy surface-to-air missile batteries in Russia and Belarus, again risking a broader conflict.
- An NFZ over the country would lead to a barrage of missiles, thermobaric bombs, cluster bombs, and more to stop hitting Ukrainian civilians and military infrastructure.
Examples of No-Fly Zone
- Western nations imposed such restrictions over parts of Iraq for more than a decade following the 1991 Gulf War, during the civil war in Bosnia and Herzegovina from 1993-95, and during the Libyan civil war in 2011.
GS TIMES UPSC PRELIMS & MAINS CURRENT AFFAIRS BASED BASICS DAILY ONLINE TEST CLICK HERE
CLICK HERE DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS QUIZ FOR STATE CIVIL SERVICES
