The US, UK reject the notion of no-fly zone over Ukraine: ‘Our goal is to end the war, not to expand it.’

The United States and the United Kingdom have rejected the notion of implementing a "no-fly zone" over Ukraine, saying they cannot afford to have a direct military confrontation with Russia.

Speaking along with UK Foreign Secretary Elizabeth Truss at a news conference in Washington on Wednesday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Washington wants to end the conflict, not prolong it.

“Introducing, in our case, American servicemembers in Ukraine … or American pilots into Ukrainian airspace – whether on a full or on a limited basis – would almost certainly lead to direct conflict between the United States, between NATO and Russia,” Blinken told reporters.

“And that would expand the conflict; it would prolong it; it would make it much … deadlier than it already is. And that would be neither in the interest of our countries, nor in the interest of Ukraine,” he added.

A no-fly zone is established to stop countries from carrying out attacks over groups of people or flying in certain areas.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has asked the US to establish "no-fly zones" to protect Ukraine from Russian airstrikes and stop buying Russian oil and gas. However, Russian President Vladimir Putin warned that it would lead to catastrophic consequences.

US President Joe Biden has dismissed the notion of no-fly zones because of the risk of “a potential direct war with Russia.”

On Wednesday, the UK foreign secretary also rejected the push to establish a no-fly zone over Ukraine.

“The reality is that setting up a no-fly zone would lead to a direct confrontation between NATO and Russia,” Truss told reporters.

“And that is not what we are looking at. What we are looking at is making sure that the Ukrainians are able to defend their own country with the best possible selection of anti-tank weapons and anti-air defense systems,” she added.

On Sunday, US Republican Senators Marco Rubio and Joni Ernst warned that implementing a "no-fly zone" over Ukraine would result in World War III.

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Kremlin spokesman Peskov told reporters that Washington “has declared economic war on Russia and it is de facto waging this war.”

Rubio said that he is "not sure a lot of people fully understand what that means."

"A no-fly zone has become a catchphrase. I'm not sure a lot of people fully understand what that means," he said.

"That means flying AWACS 24 hours a day, that means the willingness to shoot down and engage Russian airplanes in the sky. That means, frankly, you can’t put those planes up there unless they're willing to knock out the anti-aircraft systems that the Russians have deployed in, and not just in Ukraine, but Russia and also in Belarus," Rubio said.

"So basically a no-fly zone, if people understand what it means, it means World War II. It means starting World War III," Rubio said. "It's not some rule you pass that everybody has to oblige by. It's the willingness to shoot down the aircraft of the Russian Federation, which is basically the beginning of World War III."

Republican Senator Ernst from Iowa also said on Sunday imposing a no-fly zone over Ukraine would put the United States at risk of entering a direct conflict with Russia.

Putin on Saturday warned that any attempt to impose a no-fly zone in Ukraine would lead to catastrophic consequences for the world.

He also said that Western sanctions on Russia were akin to a declaration of war.

Zelensky asks US Congress for no-fly zone, Putin warns of catastrophic consequences

Ukrainian

Putin said his country is defending Russian-speaking communities through the "demilitarisation and de-Nazification" of Ukraine so that their neighbor became neutral and no longer threatened Russia.

"These sanctions that are being imposed are akin to a declaration of war but thank God it has not come to that," Putin said.

He warned that any attempt by another power to impose a no-fly zone in Ukraine would be considered by Russia to be a step into the military conflict.

Putin announced last month a “special military operation” in Ukraine’s Donbas region to “defend people” subjected to "genocide" there against government forces, stressing that Moscow has “no plans to occupy Ukrainian territory.”

US President Joe Biden called the Russian action an "unprovoked and unjustified attack," and the American media described it as the biggest assault on a European state since World War Two assault by Russia.

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