US Republican Senators Marco Rubio and Joni Ernst say that implementing a "no-fly zone" over Ukraine would result in World War III, as US officials and lawmakers debate imposing it over the country.
Rubio told ABC "This Week" host George Stephanopoulos on Sunday that he is "not sure a lot of people fully understand what that means."
"A no-fly zone has become a catchphrase. I'm not sure a lot of people fully understand what that means," he said.
"That means flying AWACS 24 hours a day, that means the willingness to shoot down and engage Russian airplanes in the sky. That means, frankly, you can’t put those planes up there unless they're willing to knock out the anti-aircraft systems that the Russians have deployed in, and not just in Ukraine, but Russia and also in Belarus," Rubio said.
"So basically a no-fly zone, if people understand what it means, it means World War II. It means starting World War III," Rubio said. "It's not some rule you pass that everybody has to oblige by. It's the willingness to shoot down the aircraft of the Russian Federation, which is basically the beginning of World War III."
A no-fly zone is established to stop countries from carrying out attacks over groups of people or flying in certain areas.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has asked the US to establish "no-fly zones" to protect Ukraine from Russian airstrikes and stop buying Russian oil and gas. However, Russian President Vladimir Putin warned that it would lead to catastrophic consequences.
US President Joe Biden has dismissed the notion of no-fly zones because of the risk of “a potential direct war with Russia.”
Republican Senator Ernst from Iowa also said on Sunday imposing a no-fly zone over Ukraine would put the United States at risk of entering a direct conflict with Russia.
Ernst, the first female combat veteran elected to the Senate, said Russia will have the “opportunity” to attack the US and other European allies if Washington establishes a no-fly zone over Ukraine.
She said imposing a no-fly zone over Ukraine would lay the foundation for World War III.
However, Democratic Senator Joe Manchin said imposing a no-fly zone should remain on the table.
“To take anything off the table thinking we might not be able to use things because we've already taken it off the table is wrong,” Manchin said. “I will take nothing off the table.”
Former US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley on Sunday suggested that instead of imposing a no-fly zone the US should impose sanctions on all energy companies in Russia and remove Moscow from the international banking system.
“We know that the one thing that punches Putin in the gut is to hit his energy sector. There is no reason we should be taking money from an enemy. We should go ahead and sanction all of those energy companies right now. We should remove him from the international banking system,” she said.
The Biden administration has imposed harsh economic and banking sanctions on Russia in response to Russia's military actions in Ukraine.
US President Joe Biden said the sanctions would limit Russia's ability to do business in dollars, euros, pounds and yen.
Biden claimed that the only other alternative to the sanctions would be to start a “Third World War.”
Putin on Saturday warned that any attempt to impose a no-fly zone in Ukraine would lead to catastrophic consequences for the world.
He also said that Western sanctions on Russia were akin to a declaration of war.
Putin said his country is defending Russian-speaking communities through the "demilitarisation and de-Nazification" of Ukraine so that their neighbor became neutral and no longer threatened Russia.
"These sanctions that are being imposed are akin to a declaration of war but thank God it has not come to that," Putin said.
He warned that any attempt by another power to impose a no-fly zone in Ukraine would be considered by Russia to be a step into the military conflict.
Putin announced last week a “special military operation” in Ukraine’s Donbas region to “defend people” subjected to "genocide" there against government forces, stressing that Moscow has “no plans to occupy Ukrainian territory.”
Biden called the Russian action an "unprovoked and unjustified attack," and the American media described it as the biggest assault on a European state since World War Two assault by Russia.
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