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Zelenskyy renews plea for no-fly zone over Ukraine as Russian rockets destroy civilian airport
In a video message posted on Twitter, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy pushed for a “humanitarian air zone”, saying they are all people and it is the “humanitarian duty” of foreign countries to “protect” them.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Sunday sought an imposition of a no-fly zone over his country while informing the world about the destruction of a civilian airport by eight Russian rockets. Taking to Twitter, Zelenskyy, dressed in his usual khaki t-shirt, said Russia continued “total destruction of our infrastructure”.
In a video message posted on the micro-blogging site, Zelenskyy called for closing the Ukrainian sky for Russian missiles and combat aircraft. “We repeat everyday. Close the sky over Ukraine. Close it for all Russian missiles…combat aircraft, for all these terrorists,” he said.
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Pushing for a “humanitarian air zone”, the Ukrainian President, a former comedian, further said they are “all people” and it is the “humanitarian duty” of countries to “protect” them.
“If you do not do that…at least not give us aircraft for us to be able to protect ourselves, there can only be one conclusion: You also want us to be slowly killed,” Zelenskyy said in the video.
He added this is also the “responsibility” of all world leaders “today and forever”.
Ukraine’s parliament also shared a series of video tweets of the destroyed airport in Vinnytsia that showed fire and heavy smoke covering the sky. In one of the posts, it tagged French President Emmanuel Macros, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, European Union chief Ursula von der Leyen, US President Joe Biden, and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, among others, with the caption, “CLOSE THE SKY OVER UKRAINE!”
According to CNN, Zelenskyy said NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Alliance) countries have created a narrative that closing Ukraine's skies would trigger Russia's direct action against them. “This is the self-hypnosis of those who are weak, insecure inside, despite the fact they possess weapons many times stronger than we have,” he was quoted as saying by CNN.
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday warned against a third party declaration of a no-fly zone over Ukraine, saying it would be a “participation in the armed conflict”.
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The US and Western allies have supplied Ukraine with weapons to fight Russian forces, but are yet to send troops on the battlefield. Last Sunday, European Council president Charles Michel had said imposing a no-fly zone over Ukraine would trigger a world war.
(With inputs from AP)
