Why a no-fly zone is a no-go for NATO

As the excruciating videos streamed in from Ukraine this week – crying mothers cradling their babies after the Russian destruction of a maternity hospital among them – calls intensified for a no-fly zone over the country to protect civilians. 

It’s a moral imperative, petitioners said. 

“If you do not do this, you will have to share the responsibility for the lives and suffering of the civilian population of Ukraine who are being killed by rocket attacks from Russian planes,” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba told the NATO alliance. 

Yet war is an arena where moral imperatives run headlong into moral complexity. Enforcing a no-fly zone could escalate the conflict and risk even greater human suffering. That’s a key reason that NATO leaders and outside