European-led Ukraine air protection plan

A European air force of 120 fighter jets operated separately from NATO could secure the skies from Russian attacks without provoking a wider conflict with Moscow, a new plan drawn up by military experts suggests

SKYSHIELD

Integrated Air Protection Zone (IAPZ) operated over uncontested areas of Ukraine to halt Russian cruise missile and drone attacks

Requires 120 F-16s, or equivalent aircraft – F-35, Mirage, Eurofighter Typhoon, JAS 39 Gripen – flying from European airbases

SkyShield would relieve Ukraine Air Force (UAF) to focus on frontline battlefield. Plan could “achieve greater impact than 10,000 European ground troops”, supporters claim

SkyShield signatories include retired U.S. Air Force General Philip Breedlove (above left), former head of U.S. European Command, and retired British army general and former deputy NATO supreme commander, Richard Shirreff

RUSSIA
UKRAINE
BELARUS
POLAND
HUNGARY
MOLDOVA
ROMANIA
Black Sea
Nuclear power plant
Ukrainian incursion
Area held by Russia
Kyiv
200km
125 miles
Chernobyl (decommissioning)
South Ukraine NPP
Rivne
Khmelnytskyi
CRIMEA
Zaporizhya (Russian-occupied)
Dnipro
Kryvyi Rih
Sumy
Kherson
Donetsk
Kharkiv
Odesa
Zaporizhya
IAPZ zone

Sources: The Guardian, SkyShield, ISW
Pictures: Getty Images
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