Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky urged Western countries to consider enforcing a no-fly zone rule on Russia in order to stop any further outpouring by Russian aircrafts as the fighting intensifies. In a video address released on Tuesday, Zelensky stated that Russia had launched 56 rocket strikes and fired 113 cruise missiles in the past five days. In his bid to urge the western countries to consider the no-fly zone policy, he failed to mention how and by whom this policy would be put into place, he in turn accused Russia of committing war crimes and pleaded for the actions of Russia to be brought before an international tribunal. The United States rejected President Zelenskys request on enforcing a no fly zone, arguing that this would lead to a conflict between the United States and Russia. According to Aljazeera, White House spokesperson Jen Psaki said that President Joe Biden “does not intend to send the US troops to fight a war with Russia”, noting that a no-fly zone would require deploying US military to enforce, which would be a direct conflict and thus lead to war with Russia. The United Nations estimates that more than 500,000 people have fled the Ukraine, and at least 102 have been killed, since the crisis broke out on February 24.
