Retired army general Sir Chris Deverell has revealed he believes that NATO will eventually have to fight Russia and believes the security bloc should implement a no-fly zone over Ukraine.
Deverell, who headed up military intelligence, cyber and special forces as commander of the Joint Forces Command prior to his retirement in 2019, had previously stated he was against NATO forces closing the skies over Ukraine.
But in a statement on Twitter over the weekend, the retired general walked back his earlier comments, surmising that Putin seems ‘hell-bent on escalation’ and that conflict with NATO is inevitable.
‘I have been against the imposition of a no fly zone by NATO in Ukraine, believing that it would surely escalate the conflict. But Putin seems hell bent on escalation,’ Deverall tweeted.
‘So the question is becoming: does NATO fight him now or fight him later? He will likely respond with nuclear threats. But there is no fundamental reason why these are more useful to Putin than they are to NATO.
‘Our logic has to be that his threats are meaningless. Whatever he can do to us, we can do to him.’
Deverell’s comments came as Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said US and NATO forces would only reject a no-fly zone over his country’s skies if they lacked ‘confidence’ in the military alliance.
Retired army general Sir Chris Deverell has revealed he believes that NATO will eventually have to fight Russia and believes the security bloc should implement a no-fly zone over Ukraine
In a statement on Twitter over the weekend, the retired general surmised that Putin seemed ‘hell-bent on escalation’ and that conflict with NATO is inevitable
Ukraine has pleaded with NATO to help secure its sky amid widespread bombing raids from Russian aircraft and artillery
Evacuees cross a destroyed bridge as they flee the city of Irpin, northwest of Kyiv, on March 7, 2022
Kuleba yesterday urged the US and NATO to impose a no-fly zone over his country to prevent further Russian bombing campaigns, despite skeptics warning it could seriously escalate the conflict.
‘We heroically repel attacks of the Russian armed forces on the ground. However we do have issues with the skies. And The Russian air force dominates in the skies, and continues bombing our cities and killing many civilians,’ Kuleba told ABC’s ‘Good Morning America’ on Monday.
‘We believe that the rejection of the no-fly zone is based on the lack of confidence in the strengths of NATO as an alliance, because the military might of NATO is [incomparably] bigger compared than Russia,’ he said.
‘Why would Russia dare to shoot down a NATO plane knowing that it is doomed, eventually doomed if the war begins?’
Ukraine’s armed forces and territorial defence units have managed to shoot down dozens of Russian aircraft since the invasion began, but the nation has a much smaller air force than its occupiers.
Kuleba’s comments came as horrifying images laid bare the refugee crisis in Ukraine as Russia continued to shell civilians trying to flee bomb-ravaged cities.
‘Putin seems hell bent on escalation,’ Deverall tweeted. ‘So the question is becoming: does NATO fight him now or fight him later? He will likely respond with nuclear threats. But there is no fundamental reason why these are more useful to Putin than they are to NATO’
‘We heroically repel attacks of the Russian armed forces on the ground. However we do have issues with the skies. And The Russian air force dominates in the skies, and continues bombing our cities and killing many civilians,’ Kuleba told ABC’s ‘Good Morning America’ on Monday (rescue workers attempt to free trapped civilians in Kharkiv)
Russian forces are continuing to pound Mariupol, in the south, Kharkiv, in the east, Chernihiv, in the north, and Mykolaiv, in the south, with artillery – but have made little or no gains in territory in recent days. Forces continue to work to surround the capital Kyiv, though progress has been slow. Attacks on civilian areas on the outskirts have increased
The foreign minister also pleaded with the US to move forward with an emerging plan to provide Polish-owned MiG-29 fighters to the battered Ukrainian air force.
‘I urge both the United States and Poland to speed up the decision-making processes and procedures. If we receive fighting jets, that will allow us to re-establish control over the skies and save many, many civilian lives, as well as many houses, buildings and objects of critical infrastructure from being [destroyed] by Russian bombardments,’ Kuleba said.
Asked about the possibility of a long-term settlement, Kuleba responded that he is a diplomat and has to believe in a ceasefire – although a third round of peace talks ended with little progress yesterday.
‘All wars end with peace. Since the reason for this war is the fact that president Putin rejects the rights of Ukrainians to exist… We will begin to fiercely and vigorously fight as him as an aggressor to prevail. This is the strategy. We have no other strategy but win because our own existence as a nation is at stake,’ Kuleba said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky also appealed to US officials to introduce a no-fly zone over Ukraine on Saturday, but his request fell on deaf ears.
The full Senate and House were invited to participate in a Zoom meeting with Zelensky that lasted roughly an hour, as Putin’s forces pushed toward the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv and the invasion entered its second week.
In the meeting, Zelensky reiterated Ukraine’s request for the US and NATO to introduce a no-fly zone, which NATO has rejected over fears it would trigger World War Three, and asked the US to ban imports of Russian oil and transfer fighter jets to Ukraine’s air force.
However, the Biden administration and lawmakers from both parties expressed strong opposition to the idea of a no-fly zone, because enforcing it would require shooting down Russian planes, drawing NATO into direct conflict with Russia.
Putin on Saturday underlined the stakes involved, saying that any country trying to impose a no-fly zone over Ukraine will be considered a participant in the conflict.