Zelensky demands no-fly zone, Putin threatens: what is a no-fly zone?

On March 6, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky posted a video on his Twitter account, calling on pro-Ukrainian countries to protect Ukraine’s skies by creating a no-fly zone.

During this time, Zelensky has already spoken several times about the creation of a no-fly zone over the territory of Ukraine by the forces of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

However, NATO rejected the offer to establish no-fly zones in the airspace of Ukraine, saying that they are increasing support, but direct participation will lead to a larger war.

Russian President Vladimir Putin stated that Russia will consider the attempts to create a no-fly zone over Ukraine as a participation in the conflict.

What is a no-fly zone and when was it first used?

Airspace may be declared a no-fly zone for a number of reasons, but in the context of hostilities in Ukraine, it could mean a zone where Russian planes will not be allowed to fly to prevent air strikes.

The issue with no-fly military zones is that they must be controlled by military forces. For example, if a Russian plane flies over a NATO no-fly airspace, NATO forces may take certain measures against it, including surveillance, preventive strikes against defense systems, or the destruction of an aircraft entering a restricted area.

There are several cases in the history of establishing a no-fly zone.

Thus, in 1991, the United States and its coalition partner established a no-fly zone in Iraq to prevent attacks on ethnic and religious groups. In this case, however, the no-fly zone was established without UN support.

And during the 1992 Balkan conflict, the United Nations passed a resolution banning unauthorized military flights over Bosnian airspace.

In 2011, during the civil war in Libya, the UN Security Council established a no-fly zone over Libya.

The no-fly zones of Bosnia and Libya were controlled by NATO.

By the way, during the 44-day war unleashed by Azerbaijan in Artsakh, the RA NA Bright Armenia faction issued a statement calling on the UN Security Council to declare Artsakh a no-fly zone for aircraft.

Shushan Stepanyan