- Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense on Saturday posted a video showing the Eiffel Tower getting bombed.
- The video was intended to be a message for NATO.
- “Just think if this were to happen to another European capital,” a caption in the video reads.
The Ministry of Defense of Ukraine posted a startling video to its Twitter on Saturday depicting a military attack on the Eiffel Tower in Paris.
The 45-second video, intended to be a message for NATO, shows the Western city being bombed and urges NATO to “close the sky over Ukraine!”
“Just think if this were to happen to another European capital,” a caption in the video said.
—Defence of Ukraine (@DefenceU) March 12, 2022
The video opens with a woman posing in front of the Eiffel Tower. Seconds later, an explosion rocks the city. At one point, flames surround the Eiffel Tower and several planes jet through the open sky.
The camera pans from the Eiffel Tower to other French landmarks like the Sacré-Coeur basilica. Large plumes of smoke engulf the landmarks, and air raid sirens are heard in the distance.
“We will fight to the end,” reads a caption attributed to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. “Just give us a chance to live. Close the sky over Ukraine or give us air fighters. If we fall, you fall.”
Zelenskyy has for days called on Western leaders to impose a no-fly zone. Last week, he reiterated that urge as he described in a video how eight Russian missiles “completely destroyed” an airport in Vinnytsia.
Earlier this week, he rebuked NATO for deliberating on the decision to implement a no-fly zone, saying the inaction effectively gave Russia a “green light” to continue to strike at Ukraine.
“All the people who will die from this day will die because of you, as well,” Zelensky said. “Because of your weakness. Because of your disunity.”
NATO said implementing a no-fly zone would escalate the Ukraine-Russia conflict into “a full-fledged war in Europe, involving many more countries and causing much more human suffering.”
Last week, Russian President Vladimir Putin said any country that tries to impose a no-fly zone will be considered as “participants in a military conflict, and it doesn’t matter members of which organizations they are.”
“It is impossible to do it, on the very territory of Ukraine, it’s possible only from the territory of some neighboring states. But any movement in this direction will be considered by us as participation in an armed conflict,” Putin added.