NATO closes the door to the creation of a no-fly zone in Ukraine

The secretary general of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), Jens Stoltenberg, assured that the alliance will not have planes operating in Ukraine, thus closing the door to the creation of a no-fly zone in that country, something he had requested. the Ukrainian government.

“The allies agreed that we should not have planes over Ukraine’s airspace, nor NATO troops [Organización del Tratado del Atlántico Norte] on the territory of Ukraine”, Stoltenberg said at the end of an emergency meeting of foreign ministers of the transatlantic organization.

In Stoltenberg’s view, “the only way to implement a no-fly zone in Ukraine” is by sending NATO fighter jets, which would have to shoot down Russian planes operating in Ukraine.

“We believe that if we do that, we will end up with something that could turn into an all-out war in Europe, engulfing many other countries and causing much more human suffering.”, he expressed.

For that reason, NATO allies took the “painful decision” to strengthen sanctions and support for Ukraine, but “without directly involving NATO forces in the conflict in Ukraine, neither on its territory nor in its space” aerial.

The Western military alliance took this position despite dramatic calls by the Ukrainian authorities for a no-fly zone to be implemented to protect the population from Russian fighter attacks.

In a message on Twitter, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba called on Western countries to “do not allow [Vladimir] Putin turns Ukraine into Syria”.

“We are ready to fight. We will continue fighting but we need allies to help us with concrete, determined and rapid actions”, he pointed.

Stoltenberg admitted that the immediate prospects in Ukraine are worrying.

“In the coming days we will see things get worse, with more deaths, more suffering and more destruction, as Russian forces bring in heavy weapons and continue their attacks across the country.“, he pointed.

Regarding the role of the western alliance, Stoltenberg said that it will continue “doing what is necessary to protect every inch of NATO territory. NATO is a defensive alliance.”

Stoltenberg received the US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, on Friday before an emergency meeting in which the head of European Union (EU) diplomacy, Josep Borrell, and the foreign ministers of Finland and Sweden, two associated countries, also participated. .

Arriving at that meeting, the influential Chancellor of Luxembourg, Jean Asselborn, warned that NATO must help its partner countries, but that getting fully involved in the conflict in Ukraine would be a “catastrophe”.