European-led Ukraine Sky Shield plan could halt Russian missile attacks

That’s according to The Guardian, Ukrinform reports.

Sky Shield, its proponents argue, would be a European-led air protection zone operated separately from NATO to halt Russian cruise missile and drone attacks on cities and infrastructure, potentially operating as part of the “truce in the sky” proposed by Ukraine’s President, Volodymyr Zelensky, this week.

It would cover Ukraine’s three operating nuclear power plants and the cities of Odesa and Lviv, but not the frontline or the east of the country – and, according to a newly published paper, it could “achieve greater military, political, and socioeconomic impact than 10,000 European ground troops”.

Supporters include Philip Breedlove, a former US Air Force general and NATO supreme commander in Europe, and Sir Richard Shirreff, a former British army general and deputy NATO supreme commander at the beginning of the last decade, as well as former Polish president Aleksander Kwaśniewski.

Another backer, Gabrielius Landsbergis, a former Lithuanian foreign minister, said in a statement: “The implementation of Sky Shield would be an important component of Europe’s stepping up, guaranteeing Ukraine’s security effectively and efficiently.”

The U.S. halt on military aid and curbed intelligence sharing with Kyiv prompted a rapid realization in Europe that the continent will have to take the lead in supporting Ukraine while the war continues and by providing security guarantees to the country as part of any peace deal, the report reads.

It is understood Sky Shield has been drawn up by former RAF planners working in conjunction with Ukraine’s armed forces, and it has been canvassed before European defense ministries.

The concern in western political circles is that the plan would risk placing fighter jets from Nato member states directly in conflict with Russia, and could lead to a dangerous escalation of hostilities if a jet from either side was attacked or shot down.

However, backers of the scheme argue the “risk to Sky Shield pilots is low” because Moscow has not dared to fly its combat jets beyond the existing front lines since early 2022. The de facto separation from Russian aircraft would be “more than 200km” according to the scheme’s designers.

Russia routinely attacks Ukraine with missiles and long-range drones and the belief is that fighter patrols could help Kyiv eliminate them. Knocking them out is a burden on Kyiv’s existing air defense, some of which – most notably Patriot interceptors – are manufactured in the U.S. and whose resupply is covered by the White House ban.

Ukraine has fewer missiles than Russia but has used US ATACMS and Anglo-French Storm Shadow missiles to strike targets inside Russia since last autumn. It has also launched a string of long-range drone attacks on military and other infrastructure, such as oil refineries.