Amid the mounting escalation between Russia and Ukraine, Ukraine is the subject of the barbaric bombardment of Russia with no signs of peace.
This has led the Ukrainian president and average Americans asking from NATO and the United States to impose a no-fly zone over Ukraine, which will essentially stop Russia’s aerial attacks against Ukraine.
However, this comes at a cost, the extent of which is being uncalculated badly by the propagators of such a zone.
What does the no-fly zone mean?
A no-fly zone over Ukraine means that NATO would destroy defences of Russia that seek to intercept anything over Ukrainian skies.
Likewise, if this restriction is imposed, it would allow NATO planes to destroy any Russian plane trying to enter the skies of Ukraine.
This is dangerous for many reasons. Firstly, the United States has pledged not to intervene in the military conflict directly, which means that the US would announce the direct war with Russia.
This would, eventually, encourage Russia to retaliate and strike down American planes back, thus triggering an all-out assault.
Under NATO, any external aggression against any country of the alliance would be retaliated swiftly. However, the problem with Ukraine is that it is not a member of NATO; thus, the defense alliance is neither allowed to impose a no-fly zone nor it can intercept any Russian plane.
If it tries to do so, it would be a declaration of a full-scale war, which could result in a nuclear assault.
No-Fly Zone will only result in the nuclear war
This is one of the sanest approaches being followed by NATO in general and the United States in particular.
Russia has already put its nuclear forces on high alert and managed to occupy the largest nuclear power plant in Europe. Imposing a no-fly zone on the skies of Ukraine would, thus, be one step further on the ladder of escalation.
This is the closest the world went to an event parallel to the Cuban missile crisis and could have only resulted in an intensification of the war.
The problem with nuclear war is that it is beyond the control of any global leader. Even a slight mistake can result in a global disaster of unprecedented nature that can push the world into chaos.
This disaster can even be made by unintended miscalculations in which states could have attacked each other by the wrong perception. In the past, Iraq, Bosnia, and Libya were the three regions where this type of no-fly zone was established in one form or another.
Russia has already warned the United States that any sort of military intervention would result in an absolute disaster of the world.
The former Cold War foe has not only warned the United States but other countries as well not to intervene in the so-called internal affairs of Russia.
And the United States is well aware of the fact that this type of no-fly zone would be a declaration of war. Some people have even suggested imposing a limited no-fly zone on the skies of Ukraine. However, it would still be one step forward toward the war, which cannot be afforded by the world at the moment.
Final Thoughts
One of the major demands of Russia in the Ukraine conflict is that Ukraine should change its constitution to announce publicly that it would not be a part of NATO or the European Union.
However, Ukraine has repeatedly denied these demands which are encouraging Russia to perceive that NATO can expand anytime to Russian borders.
And the establishment of a no-fly zone would be a declaration that NATO is willing to Expand which would eventually cancel the initial narrative of NATO and the United States has declared intervention in the war.
Eli is a Political Data Scientist with over thirty years of experience in Data Engineering, Analytics, and Digital Marketing. Eli uses his expertise to give the latest information and distinctive analysis on US Political News, US Foreign Affairs, Human Rights, and Racial Justice equipping readers with the inequivalent knowledge.