The case for a no-fly zone in Ukraine

It would be an act of defence against Russian aggression, an exercise in the ‘responsibility to protect’.

Protesters in New York at the weekend call for a no-fly zone. Picture: AFP

NATO’s refusal to give Ukraine no-fly protection from the continuing, indiscriminate and inhumane Russian attacks from the air is strategically weak and morally wrong.

The weapons the US and its allies have sent are helping the Ukrainians defend themselves from some of the Russian attacks, but the aerial bombardment of civilians continues without risk or cost to the aggressors. We cannot stand back and allow this mass murder from the air to continue.

Western leaders have said the Russian invasion of Ukraine is a direct attack on the international order that has protected the security, freedom and prosperity of much of the world since the end of World War II. It logically follows that we should use the superior air power we possess to stop Vladimir Putin from succeeding, to protect the Ukrainian people and to prevent the establishment of a new world order that would be much more dangerous for all of us.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken and NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg have said they couldn’t support a no-fly zone over Ukraine because that would be an offensive action, and NATO is a defensive alliance. But that makes no sense. The offensive actions are being carried out by invading Russian troops. The purpose of a no-fly zone would be defensive, protecting and defending the people of Ukraine from the Russians.

The other argument against establishing a no-fly zone is that it might anger Putin and trigger World War III. But inaction based on fear usually causes more conflict than action based on confidence. Fearing to act not only makes it easier for Putin to win his inhumane war but also encourages such nations as China to believe they too can invade neighbours without fear of a US response.

There are moral reasons for the US and NATO to act that are rooted in our Good Samaritan laws and values. In the 1990s, Samantha Power, later the US envoy to the UN in the Obama administration, was so troubled by our slowness to intervene in the Balkans and Rwanda that she argued for a “responsibility to protect” citizens of other nations from genocide and other war crimes, which was unanimously adopted as an international norm by the UN World Summit in 2005.

Sending American or other NATO planes into the air over Ukraine to keep Russian aircraft away would protect Ukrainian lives and freedom on the ground, making it possible to defeat Putin’s brazen and brutal attempt to rebuild the Russian empire, undercut US global leadership and destroy the world order that we and our allies have built.

Joe Lieberman was the Democrat vice-presidential nominee in 2000 and a senator from Connecticut from 1989-2013. He is chairman of United Against Nuclear Iran and of No Labels

The Wall Street Journal