NATO Won’t Send Troops to Ukraine: Stoltenberg

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization won’t send troops to Ukraine, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg told a news conference in Brussels, commenting on a proposal by Poland for the alliance to send peacekeeping troops there.

“NATO is not part of the conflict <…> it provides support to Ukraine but isn’t part of the conflict,” he said. “NATO will not send the troops into Ukraine.”

“It is extremely important to provide support to Ukraine,” he continued. “But at the same time, it is also extremely important to prevent this conflict becoming a full-fledged war between NATO and Russia.”

In addition, the secretary-general said NATO continues to rule out the prospect of establishing a no-fly area over Ukraine because that would mean a war with Russia. The establishment of a no-fly zone would mean NATO having to “be ready to shoot down Russian planes,” Stoltenberg said.

“We have stated that we are not going to impose a no-fly zone because we believe that that will most likely trigger a full-fledged war” between NATO and Russia, he said.

On February 24 Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a special military operation in response to a request for help by the heads of the Donbass republics. He stressed that Moscow had no plans of occupying Ukrainian territories. Afterward, the US, EU, UK and some other countries said they would impose sanctions on Russian individuals and legal entities.

Source: Agencies