(Brussels) NATO members on Friday rejected Kyiv’s request to create a no-fly zone in Ukraine, to avoid being drawn into the conflict, the alliance’s secretary general said.
Posted at 6:38 a.m.
Updated at 9:35 a.m.
“The issue was raised and the Allies agreed that we should not have NATO aircraft operating in Ukrainian airspace or NATO troops on the ground because we could end up with an all-out war in Europe”, explained Jens Stoltenberg, at the end of an emergency meeting of the Foreign Ministers of the Alliance in Brussels.
On the ninth day of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba addressed his counterparts during the meeting, Stoltenberg said at a press conference.
“My message was: act now, before it’s too late. Don’t let Putin turn Ukraine into Syria. We will continue to fight. But we need partners to help us with concrete, resolute and rapid actions now,” the Ukrainian minister said in a message on Twitter.
“The only way to implement a no-fly zone is to send NATO fighter jets into Ukrainian airspace and then shoot down Russian jets to enforce it,” he said. underlined Mr. Stoltenberg.
“We have a responsibility to prevent the escalation of this war beyond Ukraine. Because it would be even more dangerous, more devastating, and cause even more human suffering,” he said.
“NATO is a defensive alliance. We do not want to be part of the conflict in Ukraine”, insisted Jens Stoltenberg, believing that “the days to come will be worse, with more deaths, more destruction, because Russia will use heavier weapons”.
“Russia uses cluster bombs and we have information about the use of other types of weapons in violation of international law”, he accused, specifying that “information is collected within the framework of the investigation opened by the International Criminal Court.
NATO has strengthened its defenses in the East with the deployment for the first time of its rapid reaction force, the dispatch of thousands of Alliance troops to the countries on the eastern flank, the placing on alert of more than 130 combat aircraft and more than 200 ships at sea.
“This is NATO’s immediate response and it will be reinforced if necessary”, assured the Secretary General of the Alliance, adding that a meeting of NATO Defense Ministers was convened on 16 March to “take the necessary decisions”.
A discussion will also begin on the posture of deterrence and defense in the longer term, also indicated the Secretary General of the Alliance. The subject will be on the agenda of the NATO summit on June 29 and 30 in Madrid.
NATO condemns ‘irresponsible’ attacks, further sanctions considered
NATO on Friday condemned the “irresponsible” bombings by Russian forces against a nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine and the Allies are considering new sanctions against Moscow to end the war.
But they refuse to be directly involved in the war. “NATO does not want to be involved in the conflict”, reaffirmed its Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg at the start of an emergency meeting of Alliance Foreign Ministers convened on 9and day of the invasion of Ukraine by the Russian army.
“We are not looking for conflict. We are a defensive alliance and we will defend our territory,” confirmed US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
“The attack on a nuclear power plant demonstrates the irresponsible nature of this war and the need to end it,” insisted Jens Stoltenberg.
Russian tank fire against the Zaporozhye power plant overnight from Thursday to Friday set fire to a building dedicated to training and a laboratory, but no radioactive leak was found, Ukrainian authorities said.
PHOTO STRINGER, AGENCY FRANCE-PRESSE
Giant posters of Vladimir Putin on a street in Simferopol, Crimea, saying ‘Russia doesn’t start wars, it ends them’ and ‘We will aim for the demilitarization and denazification of Ukraine’.
The Russian army has taken control of the plant, but “the staff controls the energy blocks and ensures their operation in accordance with the requirements of the technical regulations for operational safety”, indicated the Ukrainian nuclear regulator.
“The rise of the escalation takes the form of a questioning of the integrity of the Zaporijjia nuclear power plant”, denounced the French Minister of Foreign Affairs Jean-Yves Le Drian who called for “continuing the isolation from Russia.
The European Union will discuss Friday the possibility of imposing new sanctions against Moscow which would concern its purchases of gas and oil and make it possible to finance the war effort of Russia, announced the head of European diplomacy.
“This war is completely unjustified […] we must remain united and ready to act,” affirmed Josep Borrell on his arrival for the meeting at NATO to which he had been invited.
“You could see that everything is still on the table, because some measures that nobody expected have been taken,” he said in response to a question about European imports of Russian gas and oil.
European energy purchases from Russia have been valued at almost 700 million euros per day since the start of the crisis, according to data from the Bruegel Institute.
But Russian oil is struggling to find buyers because of fears of sanctions.
“We are going to take new measures against Putin’s power,” warned German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock without further details.
Josep Borrell will chair an emergency meeting of EU foreign ministers in the early afternoon, which will be attended by their American, Canadian and British counterparts, as well as Jens Stoltenberg.
Since the start of the offensive, the EU has adopted several sets of sanctions aimed in particular at the economic and financial sectors, the closure of its airspace to Russian aircraft and individual sanctions, in particular against President Vladimir Putin, his entourage and oligarchs.