Defense Minister Rustem Umerov, during an online address to the participants of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly session, called on neighboring countries to close the sky over the western regions of Ukraine, according to his post on Facebook.
"Russia is trying to destroy everything it cannot capture. They continue to kill and terrorize the civilian population, innocent people. To stop this, I called on our partners to allow Ukraine to use Western weapons at a greater distance," said Umerov.
He also emphasized that Russian attacks on Ukrainian energy facilities pose a threat to Ukraine's neighbors.
"Therefore, I appealed to the neighboring NATO member countries, which cannot provide us with their air defense systems, to close the sky over our western regions from their territory," added Umerov.
Closing the sky over the western regions of Ukraine
Bild recently reported that NATO countries are discussing closing the sky in western Ukraine, but no decision has been made yet.
As previously reported by other media outlets, there is a proposal to use NATO air defense systems deployed on the eastern borders of the Alliance to protect the western regions.