Russian President Vladimir Putin has spoken out about Western sanctions and has threatened to treat any country declaring a no-fly zone as part of the conflict.
“We’ll instantly view them as participants in a military conflict,” Putin told a group of female employees of Russian airlines, Russian state media reported.
“We’ll view any movement in this direction as involvement in an armed conflict by the country from whose territory threats to our military service members are posed.”
The Russian leader also issued threats in response to the sanctions imposed by Europe and the US.
“These sanctions that are being imposed are like the declaration of war,” he said.
“A lot of what is happening now, of what we now see and what we face is undoubtedly a means of fighting against Russia.”
The Biden administration and lawmakers have expressed opposition to the no-fly zone idea as it could only be enforced by shooting down Russian planes, drawing NATO into conflict with Russia.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy asked for tougher restrictions on Russia, including a ban on gas and oil exports.
However, cutting off oil from Russia would be costly for the US but not insurmountable as it accounts for 7 percent of imports. The ban is more concerning in Germany, which is dependent on Russian gas.
Rep. Lloyd Doggett took to Twitter and said after a Zoom meeting that he would support the transferring fighter jets from NATO allies to Ukraine.
“Without engaging U.S. pilots in direct conflict with Russians, we can facilitate Ukrainian access to aircraft with which Ukrainian pilots are already trained and which are held in other Eastern European countries,” Doggett wrote.
“I support getting Ukraine access to the fighter jets needed to confront Putin in the skies.”
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