Stop pretending we’re not in a proxy war with Russia | Opinion

Ukrainian President Zelenskyy has asked that NATO establish a no-fly zone and “close the skies” over Ukraine. Sen. Marco Rubio is opposed to this; the staff at Sen. Rick Scott’s offices refused to provide an answer.

Others, such as Mississippi Sen. Wicker, have endorsed this idea. The Biden administration and many Republicans and Democrats in Congress have been acting as if Ukraine is doomed to fail. They must get rid of that mindset.

On March 25, Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov stated “total war was declared on us” by the West. On March 26, President Zelenskyy asked, “Who is in charge of the Euro-Atlantic community? Is it really still Moscow, because of intimidation?”

We are in a de facto proxy war with Russia and must provide the Ukrainians with not only the MiG-29s, but also American fighter aircraft, a limited no-fly zone, and additional hardware.

The Ukrainian people have mounted a fierce resistance to Russian attempts to re-establish a “Russkiy mir” (Russian world) in what Russia refers to as it’s “near abroad.”

We must not allow Ukraine to experience similar fates that befell Moldova and Georgia through a “negotiated peace” that benefits Russia — the creation of another “frozen conflict” in the Donbas, where “peace” is a tool of control. Anything short of Ukrainian victory will have long-term consequences for the stability of not just Ukraine, but for Europe as a whole.

We must provide the Ukrainian people with the ability to defend liberty against an irredentist Russia. The people of Ukraine have stood up to tyranny twice: once in 2004 (Orange Revolution) and again in 2014 (Revolution of Dignity). The revolution of 2014 triggered a retaliatory response by Moscow, whereby Crimea was seized and conflict was stoked in the Donbas. We must stop dragging our feet while Ukraine fights against autocracy.

We must establish a limited no-fly zone over western and central Ukraine. This will also protect the NATO member-states of Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and Romania against Russian incursions into their airspace. The reasoning behind the limited no-fly zone is that it will be more palatable to many NATO allies, which would require unanimous consent from all 30 NATO member-states.

I hereby call on Congress to pass a resolution in support of such no-fly zones, as well as declaring that the U.S. supports Ukraine being granted a NATO Membership Action Plan, thereby fulfilling the 2008 Bucharest Declaration and statements from the 2021 Brussels Summit.

Those who argue against this claim that it will “provoke Russia” and that it risks putting American pilots at risk of being targeted, or some other retaliatory response by Moscow on either a NATO ally or the U.S.

Will this fear of the Russian bear be allowed to play out and therefore make hollow prior pronouncements? If so, our words will be seen as meaningless and signal a moral failing of America. Congress and the Biden administration must also not allow “peace negotiations” to be an excuse to not advocate and pass a resolution in support for Ukraine being granted a NATO MAP.

The negotiations that occurred on March 29 are but a delaying tactic, allowing Moscow to bring in its mercenaries of the Wagner Group and reposition its forces under the guise of “trust building.”

One aspect of such so-called trust building, according to Russian Deputy Defense Minister Fomin, is to “drastically reduce military activity” around the cities of Kyiv and Chernihiv. There was no mention of Mariupol or other areas in southern or eastern Ukraine, which Moscow will most likely attempt to annex as part of an expanded Luhansk and Donetsk, thus creating a land bridge to Crimea.

The Russians have continued to shell Mariupol, reducing it to rubble. This siege has reminded me of the Siege of Sarajevo, where indiscriminate shelling on the civilian population occurred during the Bosnian War.

Ukraine’s future is in NATO, not serving as a reduced buffer state between democracy and autocracy.

Matthew Becker is a Florida State University alumnus who teaches on politics and security issues in Eastern Europe at the University of Mississippi; the views expressed are his own and do not reflect those of the university.

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This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Stop pretending we’re not in a proxy war with Russia | Opinion