“The Ukrainian community and caring allies demand to increase the U.S. assistance for Ukraine - amidst the destructive bombardments of civilian territories, and the Russia-induced threat of a nuclear Armageddon at Zaporizhya NPP”, claimed organizers of the rally, UCCA, UNIS and United Help Ukraine. Members of the rally carried the banners reading: “Provide no-fly zone!”, “Stop the war in Ukraine!”, “Close our sky!” and “Support Ukraine!”, reports Ukrinform news agency.
Meanwhile, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky reported that during his conversation with U.S. President Joe Biden, he discussed the matter of support of Ukraine from the sky. “We want equality, balance in the sky. We can’t leave the advantage to Russia because it kills us, shoots us, drops bombs and fires missiles, uses military helicopters, fighter jets - lots of things. We don’t do this because we have no skies, we don’t control them”, he said. Zelensky added that Ukraine turned to the U.S. and other countries, asking them to send the Soviet-made military aircraft located in Poland. “We studied this matter well, and we know where and in which countries these Soviet-made planes are. We asked for them to be sent. And currently, much actually depends on the United States of America”, said the head of the state. He insisted that it’s the U.S. leader who could pay extra effort to solve this issue.
Meanwhile, deputy head of the Ukrainian Parliament Olena Kondratyuk cites the Facebook post of famous Swedish economist and diplomat Anders Aslund who urges the NATO to close the skies over Ukraine. “NATO must set the no-fly zone over Ukraine. The war has already begun. The West cannot stay aside. The questions is not whether it will be dragged into it, it’s about how and when”, he wrote.
According to Yulia Tymoshenko, the head of the Batkivshchyna party and its parliamentary faction, the chances of closing the skies over Ukraine are growing, because the active international movement launched by Ukraine gets stronger. Besides, there are more and more people from all over the globe that demand that from their governments.
“The situation began to change radically after the entire Ukraine united and started asking to close the sky - after all leading countries heard their citizens who demand that their leaders and parliaments move towards closure of skies over Ukraine. For example, in the U.S. almost 80 percent of people want it and demand it”, Yulia Tymoshenko said. She expressed confidence that closure of skies over Ukraine would mean its victory in the war, and also save lives of hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians. “I talk to powerful politicians from other countries - every day, in fact; my goal is the only one - to provide all arguments and see to it that the leading countries close the sky over Ukraine. Currently, there are discussions, and it’s up to 50 percent of those who support such a decision”, she said. Tymoshenko reiterated that earlier, they said that cutting Russia from SWIFT was impossible, but today, it already works. “The same will happen with the closed sky. No retreat, no surrender!”, Yulia Tymoshenko concluded.
Drawing by Andriy Yermolenko.
