A former German commander sees little chance of allied aircraft protecting western Ukraine, but his alternative proposal could intensify debate over the war’s next phase.
Closing part of the sky over Ukraine’s western regions through NATO forces currently appears unrealistic due to the lack of a joint decision by all Alliance member states. This opinion was expressed by Klaus Wittmann, a retired Bundeswehr brigadier general and lecturer in modern history at the University of Potsdam.
I consider this unrealistic because we will not find a consensus for it within NATO.
– Klaus Wittmann
Why a NATO mission over western Ukraine is unlikely
In Wittmann’s view, involving allies in the defense of Ukrainian airspace would have serious military and political consequences. Such a move would effectively mean establishing a no-fly zone and could escalate into direct involvement in the war for participating countries.
The general noted that he had previously supported the idea of closing the sky, but now sees no conditions for putting it into practice. At the same time, incidents involving Russian missiles and drones falling on Polish and Romanian territory are forcing NATO to pay greater attention to protecting its own airspace near Ukraine’s borders.
An additional security factor is the appearance in Latvia, Estonia, and Lithuania of Ukrainian drones that Russia had knocked off course. Under these circumstances, Alliance countries are strengthening their monitoring of the air situation on NATO’s eastern flank.
Strikes on Russian military facilities
Klaus Wittmann believes that it is important for Ukraine to counter not only the consequences of Russian attacks, but also the launches of missiles and drones themselves. In his view, this requires strikes on militarily significant facilities inside Russia.
Among the potential targets, he named oil refineries, the Russian army’s logistics infrastructure, launchers, and airfields. At the same time, he said, Ukraine should focus specifically on military targets and avoid giving grounds for accusations of acting against civilians.
It is absolutely necessary to bring the war onto Russian territory and, as far as possible, focus on militarily significant targets. At the same time, Ukraine must avoid giving grounds for accusations that it is waging war against the civilian population, as Russia does every day.
– Klaus Wittmann
As an example of the effectiveness of such operations, Wittmann mentioned the limited authorization by the administration of former U.S. President Joe Biden to use HIMARS against Russian targets near the Kharkiv region. In his assessment, strikes on logistics routes in that area quickly affected the supply of Russian units.