Mast Says U.S. Pilots Should not Participate in 'no-fly-zone'

Rep. Brian Mast (R-FL) was interviewed by West Palm Beach local WPTV to discuss American strategy, red lines, and Vladimir Putin in relation to the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine, where he declared that there “should be a no-fly zone” but reiterated that U.S. soldiers should not be involved in patrolling Ukrainian skies.

“I believe that we should be supporting armaments beyond just surface-to-air missiles to the Ukraine, such as getting them the jets that they need to go out there and wage war against Russia. This is all-out war…I think it is well within our capability to provide jets.”

When asked about being on the verge of global warfare, Rep. Mast responded with his claim that yes, we are on the brink of war, but we have contributed to its escalation due to free world’s inaction.

“I think we can say that we are on the doorstep of that one way or another. And I believe personally that it’s more because of weakness. There is not a peace through strength element that is going on here," said Rep. Mast. "Take us back to the beginning of what happened with this war in Ukraine. Vladimir Putin amassed hundreds of thousands of constricted troops on the Ukrainian border, and the world did nothing. The world didn’t threaten a no-fly zone, the world didn’t supply jets to Ukraine at that point.”

When asked about red lines, Mast declared that Congress has not, and currently is not being proactive enough about sitting down and figuring out our rules of engagement.

“Congress, whether it’s the whole of Congress, the House, and the Senate, or the Foreign Affairs Committee – I sit on the Foreign Affairs Committee and there’s the Senate Foreign Relations Committee," added Mast. "They’re not sitting down right now, anywhere, and have not sat down since the beginning of this and do not have a plan to sit down in the next week, and say ‘Are chemical weapons a red line? Is this a red line? Is that a red line…these conversations are not happening in your government and every American should be upset about that.”

More of the interview can be found here: