9 November 2025
Former NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has explained why NATO did not impose a no-fly zone over Ukraine at the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022.
Source: Stoltenberg in his memoir On My Watch, excerpts cited by The Sunday Times, as reported by European Pravda
Details: In his memoir, the former NATO chief recalls the “painful moment” in February 2022 when he rejected President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s desperate plea to introduce a no-fly zone over Ukraine.
Stoltenberg said he was afraid their conversation might have been the Ukrainian president’s last phone call, as the West feared for his life.
Quote: “He called me from a bunker in Kyiv with Russian tanks just up the road. And he said: ‘I accept you’re not sending in NATO ground troops, though I disagree. But please close the airspace. Prevent the Russian planes, drones and helicopters from flying and attacking us.'”
Details: Stoltenberg recalled that NATO had closed the airspace over certain countries to protect civilians in the past – for example, over Bosnia and Herzegovina and over northern Iraq, where it was necessary to protect the Kurds.
But in response to Zelenskyy’s request, the NATO secretary general said no.
He explained that closing the airspace over Ukraine would have required NATO to destroy Russian air defence systems in Belarus and Russia, since Western fighter jets could not have operated safely in Ukraine if they were being targeted by Russian missiles.
Quote: “And if there is a Russian plane or helicopter in the air, we have to shoot it down and then we are in full war between NATO and Russia. And we’re not willing to do that. As Biden, who was US president at the time, put it, we will not risk a third world war for Ukraine.”
Details: Stoltenberg added that ending that phone call with Zelenskyy was “painful”, knowing the Ukrainian president’s life was in danger.
Background:
- In his memoir, Stoltenberg also described the tense 2022 negotiations on Finland and Sweden’s accession to NATO, including how he lost his temper with then Turkish foreign minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu.
- He also recalled that US President Donald Trump considered excluding several countries from NATO during his first term.
https://www.pravda.com.ua/eng/news/2025/11/09/8006533
“As Biden, who was US president at the time, put it, we will not risk a third world war for Ukraine.”
And, neither would the crime syndicate have started a world war, and I think the West knew it very well.
What it all boils down to is cowardice. NATO, the US, Europe, the EU, the UN … all cowards. Pathetic, weak, slow, unintelligent, greedy, decrepit, depraved, stinking soft fluff balls, all of them.
As the entire planet now knows, mafia land is a paper tiger anyway. But, even so, fluff balls will never turn into steel.
“He called me from a bunker in Kyiv with Russian tanks just up the road.”
Those russian tanks never got any further than up the road either. The West expected Ukraine to crumble, but were left totally embarrassed by their rank cowardice.
And none really were able to grow an honest set of balls as this war dragged on.