Former RAF commander urges Europe to revisit Sky Shield 2.0 air protection for Ukraine

A former RAF commander says Europe needs to reconsider plans for an air protection zone over western Ukraine.

The blueprint – called Sky Shield – was first devised in 2022, but its backers say it's now even more necessary after US president Donald Trump withdrew military assistance to Ukraine.

Sky Shield would see dozens of fighter jets, including potentially RAF Typhoons, on air protection patrols over Ukraine.

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They'd operate outside of the Nato umbrella and protect the West of the country from Russian cruise missiles and drones.

Sky Shield was conceived in 2022 – before Russia's invasion- initially as a way of keeping the two sides apart.

Sky Shield 2.0, as it's become, would potentially cover the areas from Lviv in the west, down to Odesa in the south, an area that includes three active nuclear power plants.

What it wouldn't protect would be the frontline in the east. That would still be the preserve of Ukraine's air force.

Initial reports suggested the plan would need 120 jets from a variety of nations.

Former Tornado pilot and RAF Commander Greg Bagwell says it could be done with half that, provided they had tanker support.

"You've certainly got to be thinking about this type of an operation if a peace settlement is made.

"The idea that we're going to put troops on the ground for a peacekeeping force in Ukraine without some degree of air cover and air surveillance is for the birds."

The other consideration is the safety of the pilots flying these missions both from Russian aircraft and it's very capable surface-to-air missile systems like the S-400.

But the air marshal says the risk would be very low: "We've not seen Russian aircraft come anywhere near that part of Ukraine, but we don't really see them coming into Ukraine at all."

The Sky Shield plan has other big-name backers, including General Philip Breedlove, the former Supreme Allied Commander Europe or SACEUR.

While the idea has been sitting in the background for three years, Donald Trump's acrimonious Oval Office meeting with Volodymr Zelensky has brought renewed interest as Europe tries to balance the protection of Ukraine with the new reality of an increasingly isolationist America.