President Volodymyr Zelensky in a national address made public late Sunday evening, March 13, repeated calls on NATO states to help Ukraine defend its skies from Russian bombers and missiles, or face air strikes on NATO territory.
Zelensky’s comments came in the wake of a Russian Federation (RF) air strike against a Ukrainian army training center in western Lviv, 25 kilometers from the Polish and Slovakian borders. The 30-missile attack killed 37 and injured 134 people.
“Last year I told NATO leaders if there are no serious preventative sanctions (against the RF), it will lead to a war. We were right,” Zelensky said.
“And now I repeat again: if you do not close our sky, it is only a matter of time before Russian missiles fall on your territory. On NATO. On the homes of citizens of NATO countries,” he said.
Zelensky and other senior officials since the beginning of the RF’s invasion of Ukraine have launched appeal after appeal to the Atlantic Alliance to either make Ukrainian air space a no-fly zone using NATO aircraft, or provide Ukraine anti-aircraft systems so it could defend itself from the RF air force.
Although Ukraine Armed Forces (UAF) by their own estimates have shot down more than 150 RF helicopters and combat jets in the now 19-day-old war, the RF air force now is operating with some freedom in Ukrainian skies. Despite Kremlin claims they hit only military targets, the primary target for RF air strikes for more than a week has been Ukrainian civilian homes and businesses.
Zelensky pointed to a recent RF air strike causing severe damage to the Sviahtohirsk Monaster, in Donetsk region, as evidence of an RF strategy to beat Ukraine into submission by aerial bombardment of civilian buildings. He claimed only monks and refugees were inside the religious complex, when the RF air force bombed in March 12.
Zelensky told viewers Kyiv is negotiating with Moscow on a possible ceasefire and even end to the war, but, an absolutely non-negotiable Ukrainian condition is an absolute guarantee of Ukrainian security.
Ukraine in 1994 in a Budapest agreement gave away its nuclear weapons in exchange for guarantees to its national security by the US, Britain and Russia. The agreement committed all signers to respect Ukraine’s borders, but did not specify what should be done if one of the signers violated Ukraine’s borders itself.
“We need real guarantees – not like in Budapest and not like in our sky,” Zelensky said.
