Peskov: No-fly zone would be tantamount to NATO operation in Ukraine

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has warned against establishing a no-fly zone over Ukraine. Any attempt in this direction would be comparable to an active NATO military operation on Ukrainian territory. 

According to Peskov, Russian President Vladimir Putin is open to dialogue and ready for a new phone call with US President Donald Trump, reported Handelsblatt. 

Trump responded on Wednesday to a question of whether he would impose a no-fly zone over Ukraine as part of security guarantees: "If it's necessary, then yes." He added that such a step might not be necessary if a peace agreement is reached.

A no-fly zone means a designated airspace where certain aircraft – primarily military aircraft – are prohibited from flying, and this prohibition is enforced by military means. In Ukraine, this would essentially mean that NATO or other Western countries would declare Ukrainian airspace closed to Russian air forces and undertake the obligation to shoot down any Russian aircraft or missile violating the ban if necessary.

Ukraine requested the establishment of a no-fly zone already at the beginning of the full-scale war in 2022, but NATO avoided the topic, trying to keep itself out of the conflict. 

The actual enforcement of such a zone would require that the enforcing party (e.g., NATO) achieves air superiority over Ukraine, attacks and neutralizes Russian air defense systems, and is prepared to enter into direct combat with Russian air forces and potential missile strikes. 

For Ukraine, a no-fly zone enforced by NATO or some coalition would primarily be an attempt to reduce or prevent Russian air attacks against cities, infrastructure, and military targets, which would give the country a significant military and civil defense advantage. If Russian aircraft and helicopters could not operate with impunity in Ukrainian airspace, the intensity of air strikes would decrease, the freedom of action of Ukrainian ground forces would improve, and the number of civilian casualties could decrease.

At the same time, the war would officially become an international conflict, with NATO and Russia directly confronting each other.