German MPs demand the creation of a 70-kilometer NATO air defense zone around Ukraine

Russian missiles launched into Ukraine from the Belgorod region Photo: EVGENY MALOLETKA/AP

An inter-party group of German deputies called for the creation of a 70-kilometer air defense zone NATO over Ukraine to protect it from attacks by Russian missiles and drones.

Senior members of the opposition Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party, as well as members of the Free Democratic Party (FDP) and Greens coalition, discussed creating a safe zone around Ukraine's borders with Poland, Slovakia, Hungary and Romania, modeled on the Western Alliance that intercepted the recent attack Iran on Israel.

Roderick Kiesewetter, the CDU's crisis prevention spokesman, told German newspaper FAZ that the initiative would help free up Ukrainian forces in the east, where a new Russian offensive is underway.

“This will ease the burden on Ukrainian air defense and allow it to protect the front,” Mr. Kiesewetter told the newspaper.

Markus Faber, a member of the liberal FDP party, also backed the plan as “possible”, while Greens deputy leader Agnieszka Brügger said she favored the creation of NATO air defense systems “on the borders of neighboring states”. ” to protect western Ukraine.

The proposal is reportedly based on the West's interception of hundreds of missiles and drones launched by Iran toward Israel last month.

During this crisis, British, French and American air forces, among others, shot down incoming Iranian missiles from Western allied bases throughout the region, as well as from Jordanian airspace.

Their intervention did not result in direct confrontation. with Iran, something Germany is keen to avoid in the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine.

However, on Monday the German proposal was rejected by a senior member of the Social Democratic Party (SPD), Chancellor Olaf Scholz's ruling party, who said that it is “irresponsible” and a “fire hazard.”

“Protecting Ukrainian airspace through the deployment of NATO forces would be contrary to the principle of inactive participation in the war,” Rolf Mützenich, head of the SPD parliamentary group, said.

p>If the proposal to support the NATO air zone plan were put to a vote in the Bundestag, it risks failing without the support of the SPD. which also rejected similar proposals from cross-party groups on how best to support Ukraine, for example by supplying powerful Taurus missiles.