The White House acknowledged the United States would make demands if it were being invaded as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky implores President Joe Biden and Congress “to do more” to help Ukraine as it tries to fight off Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion.
“If we were President Zelensky, we would be asking for everything possible as well and continuing to ask for it,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Wednesday. “He is watching his country and his people be attacked and brutalized by President Putin and the Russian military.”
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One of Zelensky’s asks is for the U.S., along with NATO allies, to impose a no-fly zone above Ukraine. It is a request that has been repeatedly denied by the White House and its European partners.
“How President Biden makes decisions is through the prism of our own national security,” she said. “As we’ve said before, a no-fly zone would require implementation. It would require us potentially shooting down Russian planes, NATO shooting down Russian planes, and we are not interested in getting into World War III.”
Biden was “speaking from his heart” when he told reporters minutes earlier he believed Putin was “a war criminal” for his assaults on Ukrainian civilians, according to Psaki.
“We wanted to have a direct conversation of what the consequences would be of further escalatory action,” she added of national security adviser Jake Sullivan’s phone conversation with Nikolay Patrushev, the secretary of the Russian Security Council.
Psaki also used the press briefing to put pressure on gas companies to lower prices at the pump as the cost of oil dipped below $100 a barrel.
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“No one should capitalize on Putin’s aggression by taking advantage of American families,” she said.
