US Chief of Staff General Mark Milley on Saturday in Latvia ruled out the idea of a no-fly zone in Ukraine because it would mean “actively fighting” Russian forces.
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“If a no-fly zone was declared, someone would have to enforce it,” the highest-ranking American said during a visit of a few hours to this Baltic state bordering Russia.
“We would then have to go there and actively combat the Russian air force,” he told local media. “It’s not something NATO Secretary General (Jens) Stoltenberg or any senior member state politician has said he wants to do.”
“So today, I am not aware of any plans to establish a no-fly zone,” added General Milley, the first senior American official to speak publicly on this subject.
Ukraine has been asking NATO for several days to establish a no-fly zone in Ukraine, but the Allies meeting on Friday rejected this request to avoid becoming involved in the conflict.
“The issue was raised and the Allies agreed that we should not have NATO aircraft operating in Ukrainian airspace or NATO troops on the ground because we could end up with an all-out war in Europe,” explained NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.
A refusal denounced by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who described the meeting of the Allies as “weak” and “confused”.
For his part, Russian President Vladimir Putin stressed on Saturday that Russia would consider as co-belligerent any country attempting to impose a no-fly zone over Ukraine.
Any measure in this direction would be considered by Moscow “as a participation in the armed conflict of any country” whose territory would be used to “create a threat against our military”, he said.