Marco Rubio warns a no-fly zone over Ukraine could lead to World War III [Video]

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:

• GOP Senator Marco Rubio said Sunday that imposing a no-fly zone over Ukraine could lead to “the beginning of World War III.”
• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had a Zoom meeting with US Congress requesting for a no-fly zone.   
• Russian President Putin said any nation who will help Ukraine with a no-fly zone would be considered ‘participants in a military conflict.’ 

Sen. Marco Rubio said Sunday that implementing a no-fly zone over Ukraine amid Russia’s invasion could lead to the “beginning of World War III.” The Republican senator is the vice-chair of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence,

“I think people need to understand what a no-fly zone means … it’s not some rule you pass that everybody has to oblige by,” Rubio told ABC “This Week” anchor George Stephanopoulos on Sunday. “It’s the willingness to shoot down the aircrafts of the Russian Federation, which is basically the beginning of World War III.”

On Saturday, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky had a Zoom call meeting with U.S. lawmakers that Rubio participated in. Zelensky requested the West’s help to impose a no-fly zone over Ukraine. If that can’t be done, Zelensky asked for planes instead.

Stephanopoulos asked Rubio about a potential deal with Poland to supply aircraft, which Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the U.S. is “actively looking at.”

Rubio supported the deal, calling it “great” if it can be done. However, the senator has concerns “if they can actually fly them given the amount of anti-aircraft capability that the Russians possess and continue to have deployed in the region”

Bipartisan support to ban Russian oil imports continues to grow among U.S. lawmakers, but the White House has yet to agree.

“The president has resisted banning Russian oil imports, of course, that would send gas prices soaring even more here in this country. Do you support that?” Stephanopoulos asked.

“I do and I don’t think — you know, I think that’s something that you can construct a plan to phase that in pretty rapidly,” Rubio said. “And you could use reserves for the purposes of buffering that. But we have more than enough ability in this country to produce enough oil to make up for the percentage that we buy from Russia.”

Rubio said the Biden administration’s unwillingness to stop importing barrels of Russian oil each day is simply “an admission” that “Putin has leverage over us.”

Rubio supports the production of “more American oil and buy less Russian oil or none at all.”

When asked whether it was “responsible” for Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham to suggest in a tweet that someone should assassinate Russian President Vladimir Putin. Rubio did not condemn the comments, as others, like Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, did.

For Rubio, people can say anything out of anger to Putin whom the senator called a monster

“I’m not sure he was calling for a U.S. action in that regard. I think what he was basically trying to say, at least my reading of it is, I wish someone would take this guy out and remove him from power one way or the other. I think the whole world wishes that.”

Source: ABC News