UKRAINE – President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and other Ukrainian officials implored the United States and NATO to impose a no-fly zone over its skies in response to Russia’s air superiority and indiscriminate shelling of civilian targets throughout the country.
Additionally, there is evidence that a nuclear power plant was shelled by Russian forces.
“I say every day that, if you cannot shut the sky now, then give us the timeline when you will do it? If you cannot now provide the timeline, tell us how many people have to die?” Mr. Zelenskyy said before foreign reporters in Kyiv on March 3.
Western nations have been reluctant to heed the request because it would entail enforcing it with their military planes and hardware, which might be considered an act of war against Russia, a country with a nuclear arsenal.
Mr. Zelenskyy also repeatedly offered to hold bilateral discussions with his Russian counterpart, whom U.S. President Joe Biden recently called a “dictator,” but surmised it would be ignored anyway.
Russia escalated its ongoing war of eight years against Ukraine on February 24 when Putin ordered a fuller-scale invasion of its neighbor, including from Belarus, occupied Crimea and the Donbas.
Putin said on Russian television on March 3 that his war on Ukraine was proceeding “according to plan.”
When announcing the multi-pronged onslaught on the country, he said his plan was to subjugate Ukraine.