NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg | Pool photo by Olivier Douliery via Getty Images |
International Military - NATO member countries on Friday refused to cover a no- fly zone over Ukraine, advising that such a move could spark a wide war in Europe with Russia's nuclear power, the association's top functionary said.
Speaking after chairing a meeting with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and his associates, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg conceded the suffering of the Ukrainian people, as Russia ramps up its use of heavy munitions, shelling other metropolises and spots, forcing further than a million people out. country.
“ What's passing now in Ukraine is terrible. It hurts and we see mortal suffering, we see desolation on a scale we have not seen in Europe since the Second World War,"he said. Still, he added"We'll not move to Ukraine, neither on the ground nor in Ukrainian airspace."
Under the collaborative security guarantees that bind NATO's 30 member countries — Composition 5 of its launching convention — all abettors must defend an supporter if that country is attacked. Any firing down of a NATO warplane by Russia could spark that clause.
"The only way to apply a no- fly zone is to shoot NATO warplanes into Ukrainian airspace, and also apply that no- cover zone by shooting down Russian aeroplanes,"Stoltenberg said. He said abettors believed that"if we do that, we will end up with commodity that could end in a full-blown war in Europe."
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has called on the West to apply a no- fly zone in his country, the rearmost after a fire overnight at one of Ukraine's nuclear shops, Europe's largest. But, Stoltenberg said,"we aren't part of this conflict, and we've a responsibility to insure that it does not escalate and spread beyond Ukraine, because it would be more ruinous and more dangerous."
NATO members and officers are concerned about Russian President Vladimir Putin's trouble to use nuclear munitions if one of them becomes involved in his war in Ukraine. NATO itself has no munitions, but the United States, Britain and France are nuclear powers, like Russia.
NATO has mustered thousands of colors backed by aeroplanes, tanks and heavy outfit and stationed them to countries on the eastern hand near Ukraine and Russia, similar as Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Romania, who are nervous about Putin's intentions for their future.
At the alternate round of addresses between the Ukrainian and Russian delegations on Thursday, Putin advised Ukraine that it must incontinently accept the Kremlin's request to" disarm"and declare itself a neutral country, thereby rejecting any offer to join NATO.
NATO insists that its doors remain open for any European country that wishes to join and can fulfill its class scores. Stoltenberg said the world's largest security association would also increase cooperation with close abettors Finland and Sweden. Blinken also held addresses in Brussels Friday with G7 members and European Union countries.