Marco Rubio Says Creating a No-Fly Zone Over Ukraine ‘Means Starting World War III’
The question of the day for George Stephanopoulos was whether or not the United States or NATO should consider a no-fly zone over Ukraine to prevent Russian airstrikes, and he asked it of most of his guests. That included Republican Sen. Marco Rubio, who answered that a no-fly zone would effectively be World War III.
Stephanopoulos asked Rubio, who is vice-chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, whether the Senator and his colleagues are “now more open to a no-fly zone,” after having spoken with Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Saturday.
Zelenskyy blasted NATO’s reluctance in blistering comments just days ago, saying “All the people who die from this day forward will die because of you, because of your weakness.”
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield was on with Stephanopoulos first on Sunday, and said that the United States is “working to support [Zelenksyy] in every other way possible that we can support him,” but emphasized that President Joe Biden “has been very, very clear that American troops will not be put on the ground or in the air to escalate this war and make this an American war against the Russians.
Rubio’s answer was similar.
“Look, a no-fly zone has become a catchphrase. I’m not sure a lot of people fully understand what that means,” the senator said. “That means flying AWACS 24 hours a day. That means the willingness to shoot down and engage Russian airplanes in the sky. That means, frankly, you can’t put those planes up there unless you’re willing to knock out the anti-aircraft systems that the Russians have deployed, and not just in Ukraine, but in Russia and also in Belarus.”
“So basically a no-fly zone, if people understood what it means, it means World War Three,” he said. “It means starting World War Three.”
“So I think there are a lot of things we can do to help Ukraine protect itself, both from airstrikes and missile strikes. But I think people need to understand what a no-fly zone means. It’s not just, it’s not some rule you pass that everybody has to oblige by,” he said. “It’s the willingness to shoot down the aircraft of the Russian Federation, which is basically the beginning of World War Three.”
Stephanopoulos asked Rubio about a potential alternative that has been brought up by President Zelenskyy and others to provide fighter jets “to Poland, other Eastern European nations. They would send the jets they now have to Ukraine. Do you support that?” he asked.
“I do. If that can be done, that would be great,” Rubio answered. “I do have concerns about a couple of things, and that is sort of, you know, can they actually fly them? Given the amount of anti-aircraft capabilities that the Russians possess and continue to have deployed in the region?”
“But generally speaking it’s something I would be supportive of, and we should do what we can to help them,” said Rubio.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Friday and Press Secretary Jen Psaki previously have each definitively rejected the idea of imposing a no-fly zone.
Watch the clip above, via ABC News.
