US won't engage in combat in Ukraine nor establish a no-fly zone: Pentagon

As Russia's invasion of Ukraine has entered its Day 24, on March 18, the Pentagon head Lloyd Austin iterated that the United States will refrain from engaging in hostilities in Ukraine nor will establish a no-fly zone over the war-torn country. The statement holds relevance as on the pretext of carrying out a' special military operation' in Ukraine and the autonomous region of Donetsk, comprising rebel regions of Luhansk and Donetsk, the Russian President-led forces launched military offensives toward Kyiv. 

"Well, the President's (Joe Biden) been very clear about the fact that we won't have troops engaged in combat with Russia and Ukraine in order to affect or put into place a no-fly zone," Austin said. 

In notable reasoning, Austin said that if the United States engaged in combat, it would be required to take down Russian forces which would make two nuclear-powered nations at war. He implied that such a scenario is not 'good for the region'.

"We'd have to control the skies and that would mean that we'd have to engage Russian aircraft we'd also have to take out Russian and aircraft and aircraft systems in Ukraine, in Belarus, and also in Russia. So that would mean that we're in combat with Russia. And these are two nuclear-powered countries. That nobody wants to see. It's not good for the region. It's not good for the world,"

The US denounces Vladimir Putin over the war on Ukraine

US President Joe Biden on Thursday called him a "pure thug" and a "murderous dictator." It is his latest comment on the Russian President amid the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war.

While speaking at the annual Friends of Ireland Luncheon on St. Patrick's Day at Capitol Hill, US President Biden said Putin is "a murderous dictator, a pure thug who is waging an immoral war against the people of Ukraine," according to CNN. 

While meeting Micheál Martin, the Taoiseach of Ireland, earlier on the same day, President Biden criticised the Russian President for his invasion of Ukraine. "Putin's brutality and what he's doing and his troops are doing in Ukraine are just inhumane," President Biden said in a meeting with the Taoiseach of Ireland.

Biden's latest remark comes a day after he called Putin a war criminal, a significant escalation in his comments on the Russian leader amid his actions against Ukraine. Biden, who has charged Putin's Russia with harsh sanctions since its invasion of Ukraine, stopped short of calling Russian atrocities a war crime. But appearing at a public event on Wednesday, the US leader blatantly said, "I think he (Putin) is a war criminal."

Image: AP