WELL, GOOD: Americans’ support for ‘no fly zone’ declines once they know what that is. “Supporters of the no-fly zone were at 40 percent of those polled, while opponents were at 25 percent. However, Yahoo! News reports, the numbers switched once respondents were told that a no-fly zone means that NATO would engage in war with Russia, shooting down their planes over Ukrainian air space.”
On the other hand: Washington Is Ramping Up Its Campaign To Draw NATO Into War With Russia.
In a letter sent Tuesday to Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, a half-dozen top Republican lawmakers called for the Biden administration to provide Ukraine with “Soviet- or Russian-made strategic and tactical air defense systems and associated radars to Ukraine.”
That means long-range surface-to-air missiles, like the Soviet-made S-300 system, which is designed to shoot down enemy aircraft and intercept ballistic missiles. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has urged the United States to help Ukraine acquire S-300 air defense systems from countries that have them, like North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) members Bulgaria, Greece, and Slovakia, and he might do so again on Wednesday when he addresses Congress.
The provision of such heavy weaponry to Ukraine, whether by the United States or our NATO allies, would represent an unprecedented level of direct military support for Ukraine that would undoubtedly — and rightly — be interpreted by Moscow as a sharp escalation by the West.
The S-300 is not a “heavy” weapon. It’s purely defensive.
If Putin doesn’t want his missiles and aircraft shot down, he should stop targeting them at Ukraine.