Nato should have right to down Russian missiles over western Ukraine, says ex-RAF officer
Nato imposing a no-fly zone over western Ukraine is a serious option that has probably been discounted too early, according to a former senior RAF officer.
Moscow has recently stepped up its drone and missile attacks on Ukraine's towns and cities, targeting key infrastructure and utilities as the country heads into winter.
In turn, Poland announced it had the right to shoot down any Russian missile over Ukraine that was heading towards its borders - and Air Marshal (Retired) Greg Bagwell said Nato should do the same.
Air Mshl (Ret') Bagwell, a former Deputy Commander (Operations), RAF Air Command, said Nato should use its massive air power to police the skies over western Ukraine.
He told BFBS Forces News setting up the safety buffer for Ukraine would not carry the same risks as some of the previous no-fly zones set up by the alliance.
"If you actually look at the threat scenario, we've put no-fly zones over countries, over the top of their surface-to-air systems, daring them not to fire at us – whether that be Iraq or Libya," he said.
"So we have created no-fly zones over the top of a hostile country for years.
"We're not talking about that in this scenario. We're talking about putting a no-fly zone, or call it what you will, an engagement zone, over the western half of a friendly country where there aren't Russian aircraft.
"So this is not the same level of threat as some of the no-fly zones we have done in the past."
If established, a no-fly zone would also protect the few Ukrainian pilots to focus on fighting Russian jets in the east, as opposed to intercepting Russian cruise missiles in the West.
Kyiv also said it could use Western air defence systems like Patriot or Iris-T to do that job instead, if it was given more of them.
Another way is the establishment of a no-fly zone, which Air Mshl (Ret'd) Bagwell said would not require engaging with Russian jets directly.
"If you say the words 'no-fly zone', it conjures up all sorts of images in people's heads," he said.
"In this case, we're talking about no-object zones, so cruise missiles, hypersonic missiles even, or drones, using potentially Nato assets to engage them in the west of the country.
"Because... it would not require you to engage manned crewed aircraft and it wouldn't require you therefore to be concerned about ground-based air defence based in Russia."
But with both the UK and US having stopped Ukraine from using their long-range cruise missiles inside Russia, fearing it would be escalatory, he conceded the idea of having Western pilots over Ukraine may not be palatable to some.
"Listening to the rhetoric coming out of certain capitals, I think that would just be beyond the pale," he said.
"Because we've gone into a mindset where anything that we do that might antagonise Russia is something we must not do.
"But you can't under the same breath then say we must do everything possible to help Ukraine win.
"You can't have it both ways."
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