Here’s what help Zelensky asked for, in order of what he’s least likely to get to what he’s most likely to get.
1. A no-fly zone
This is at the top of Zelensky’s wish list — and a nonstarter for the United States and NATO.
“Is this a lot to ask for?” Zelensky said to Congress on Wednesday. “To create a no-fly zone over Ukraine to save people? Is this too much to ask?”
To U.S. leaders, setting up a no-fly zone is too similar to sending U.S. troops to Ukraine to fight Russia.
A no-fly zone bans aircraft in a specified area. But someone needs to be able to enforce it. So if NATO imposes a no-fly zone over Ukraine, NATO would be responsible for patrolling the area and possibly shooting down Russian planes that enter it, which would risk pulling the United States and its allies directly into the war.
“That’s a world war when Americans and Russia start shooting at one another,” President Biden told NBC’s Lester Holt in February. Biden hasn’t wavered from that position. And most members of Congress agree with him that taking such a step to try to end Ukraine’s war could create a wider one.
“Starting World War III is certainly not in our national security interests,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said recently.
“It is combat,” said John Kirby, a spokesman for the Pentagon, describing to ABC how he participated in enforcing a no-fly zone decades ago. “You have to be willing to shoot and to be shot at.”
2. Fighter jets
“If you can’t do [a no-fly zone], at least get me planes,” Zelensky told members of Congress in a recent call. He repeated that request Wednesday.
This ask is slightly more plausible than a no-fly zone, but only slightly. The Biden administration seems to want to help get Ukraine jets but can’t figure out how without risking Russian aggression.
As a result, it hasn’t completely ruled out this request, but administration officials have also been firm that they don’t see a scenario in which the United States plays a major role in helping get Ukraine get fighter jets.
Zelensky is asking for Russian-made MiG-29 fighter jets, which Ukrainian pilots are trained to fly. (You’ll hear politicians call them “MiGs” for short.)
The Biden administration has emphasized that other countries can give whatever they want to Ukraine. Poland, in particular, has quite a few of the fighter jets Zelensky wants. But any country attempting to supply MiGs to Ukraine might be deemed a target by Russia. Last week, Poland tried to offer the United States the opportunity to deliver the planes, but Washington quickly shut the door on that.
“If you’re Russia and see planes take off at a U.S. or NATO air base and flying at you, you might think those planes are coming to attack you, prompting you to prepare or even carry out actions against the U.S. military,” said a spokesman for the National Security Council, speaking on the condition of anonymity under ground rules set by the administration. “And that’s how we get into a situation where we are risking direct conflict with a nuclear power.”
Another idea is to transport the planes into Ukraine on the ground, which is probably how many Western weapons are getting into the country. But the NSC official said a plane is much more complicated — you would have to take it apart, put it on a truck, then have trained technicians reassemble it in the middle of a war zone. It’s just not practical, he said, especially when U.S. officials think Ukraine is doing a pretty good job of shooting down Russian warplanes using ground-based missiles.
Still, the Biden administration is under pressure from Congress to help deliver these jets, which have taken on a symbolism of their own.
It’s a bipartisan issue, though Republicans are being louder about it. “I haven’t yet met anyone in the Senate who is not in favor of seeing those MiGs get into Ukraine,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said Tuesday.
If Washington does find a way to get fighter jets into Ukraine, it probably wants to do it as quietly as possible. “They are trying to find a low-visibility way to send planes to Ukraine,” said Mark Cancian, senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington think tank, “as opposed to holding a news conference to announce they’re trying to do it.”
3. More missiles to shoot down Russian planes
If the no-fly zone is too much to ask, Zelensky told Congress on Wednesday, “we offer an alternative.”
He wants the West to give Ukraine ground-based missiles and defense systems to shoot down Russian aircraft.
And that, he’ll get. Hours after Zelensky spoke, Biden said the United States is giving Ukraine long-range antiaircraft systems and drones to help Ukraine keep shooting down Russian planes — part of $1 billion in new aid this week.
The United States and NATO have been giving Ukraine military assistance every day, the NSC said. And they think Ukraine is doing a generally good job with what it has.
“The Ukrainians are making excellent use of these weapons now,” said Gen. Tod D. Wolters, head of the U.S. European Command, last week.
Arming Ukraine for a war with no end in sight is no small feat, Cancian said. It means Ukraine’s military is getting more supplies while Russia is probably tearing through what it has. “I think Ukrainians will get stronger, the Russians will get weaker, and time will be on Ukraine’s side if we continue to provide all the supplies we’ve been doing,” Cancian said.
4. Keep choking off Russia economically
“New packages of sanctions are needed constantly, every week until the Russian military machine stops,” Zelensky told Congress on Wednesday.
On this, the United States and its allies are happy to oblige.
Russia already faces more sanctions than any other nation, according to Castellum.AI, a global database that tracks such penalties. The United States is leading on this front. It has banned imports of Russian oil, something Biden was initially reluctant to do because of the likelihood that it would push up gas and energy prices.
The United States has placed sanctions on all 10 of Russia’s largest banks, more or less cutting off these financial institutions from Western markets. It has made it harder for American companies to trade with Russia, and it has blocked American companies from doing business with Russia in major sectors of Russia’s economy. It has placed sanctions on more than two dozen Russian oligarchs (who in some cases are storing Russian President Vladimir Putin’s own wealth, said Dartmouth University’s Brooke Harrington, who studies the ultrarich).
“It has caused the Russian economy to, quite frankly, crater,” Biden has said of the sanctions regimen already in place.
The United States has already implemented many kinds of sanctions on Russia, so ratcheting them up would mainly involve finding ways to make the existing ones reach more Russian banks, companies or oligarchs.
On Wednesday, Zelensky asked for the United States to target all Russian politicians who don’t oppose Putin, which is currently not in the cards.
Zelensky also said all American companies should leave Russia. “Leave their market immediately,” Zelensky requested, “because it is flooded with our blood.”
That isn’t really up to the U.S. government. But many, if not most, major U.S. companies have already cut ties with Russia, seeing public relations and financial risks in staying in the country. McDonald’s, Starbucks, Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, Apple, Netflix, Visa and Mastercard are all ending or suspending their operations.
Caroline Anders contributed to this report.
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