White House downplays no-fly zone for evacuation corridors in Ukraine

FILE PHOTO: White House Press Secretary Psaki holds the daily press briefing at the White House in Washington

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – White House press secretary Jen Psaki said on Tuesday a limited no-fly zone over humanitarian corridors to allow safe evacuations from Ukrainian cities hit hard by Russian forces could still escalate the conflict, leading the United States into war with Russia.

Briefing reporters en route to Texas, Psaki said such a move would still require shooting down Russian planes if they fly into the zone, even if it covered a smaller area. “We would still have concerns about that being an escalatory action that could lead us into a war with Russia, which is not something the president intends to do,” she said.

(Reporting by Jeff Mason and Alexandra Alper; editing by Jonathan Oatis)

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