Canada, allies must avoid all-out war with Russia: Trudeau

By Barry Ellsworth

TRENTON, Canada (AA) - Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Friday that a NATO enforced no-fly zone over Ukraine could lead to a "direct conflict" with Russia and must be avoided.

"The thing that we have so far avoided, and will continue to need to avoid, is a situation in which NATO's forces are in direct conflict with Russian soldiers. That would be a level of escalation that is unfortunate," Trudeau said.

Trudeau made the remarks at a press conference Friday as he prepares to leave for Europe Sunday for a number of meetings with allied countries in the UK, Latvia, Germany and Poland. The topic of discussion, of course, will be the Russia-Ukrainian conflict.

Trudeau said the economic shots delivered by allied countries like Canada are the way to bring Russia, and its President Vladimir Putin, to its knees and end the war.

"We will continue to impose punishing consequences on Putin and his cronies in the Kremlin and on the Russian people until they understand just how terrible a mistake Putin has just made," Trudeau said.

The enforcement of a no-fly zone over Ukraine by NATO members would mean the shooting down of Russian aircraft if they entered the restricted zone and that could in turn lead to all-out war with Russia, he said.

At a press conference Thursday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy asked for NATO to establish a no-fly zone, or to at least send war planes that could be used by Ukrainian pilots. NATO officials have declined to create the no-fly zone.

Trudeau said no Canadian Armed Forces jets would be sent to Ukraine because the pilots there would not know how to fly them.

"The Ukrainian military has trained up on Soviet-style MiGs and fighter jets that Canada simply does not have," he said.