Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has called for Western powers to enforce a no-fly zone since Moscow’s invasion started nine days ago, with Russia shelling cities and bringing fighting to Europe’s largest nuclear plant. read more

“We understand the desperation but we also believe that if we did that (a no-fly zone) we would end up with something that could lead to a full-fledged war in Europe involving much more countries and much more suffering,” Stoltenberg said.

The only way for NATO to implement a no-fly zone would be to send NATO planes to shoot down Russian ones, he said, adding that the risk of escalation would be too big.

“Allies agree we should not have NATO planes operating over Ukrainian airspace or NATO troops operating in Ukrainian territory.”