WASHINGTON, March 1 - Ukrainian officials and two Republican members of Congress have pushed for the United States to implement a no-fly zone as Russia starts bombing civilian targets in major cities.

President Volodymyr Zelensky, via a statement to Axios on Monday, called on President Biden and NATO to impose a no-fly zone over “significant parts” of his country, saying that “if the West does this, Ukraine will defeat the aggressor with much less blood.” Zelensky tweeted Tuesday morning that he had told German Chancellor Olaf Scholz that Europeans supporting Ukraine needed to “close the sky.”