NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg speaks during a media conference at NATO headquarters in Brussels
Highlights
- NATO Secretary-General Stoltenberg said Russia shattered peace on the European continent.
- Stoltenberg said NATO will call on Russia to immediately seize its military action, withdraw troops.
- Preparations are also underway for a NATO summit, which will begin tomorrow (February 25, 2022).
As Russian troops launched a broad assault on Ukraine from three sides on Thursday, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said that Russia has launched a war on Ukraine and shattered peace on the European continent.
Stoltenberg said that NATO will call on Russia to immediately seize its military action and withdraw from Ukraine, and choose diplomacy. "NATO stands in solidarity with Ukraine. NATO allies are imposing severe costs on Russia for their reckless invasion of Ukraine. NATO allies in close coordination with EU & other partners all over the world are now imposing severe economic sanctions on Russia," the Secretary-General had stated.
"We've over 100 jets at high alert protecting our airspace & more than 120 allied ships at sea from north to the Mediterranean," he warned after NATO agreed Thursday to beef up its land, sea, and air forces on its eastern flank near Ukraine and Russia after President Vladimir Putin ordered a military offensive in Ukraine.
"Democracy will always prevail over autocracy. Freedom will always prevail over oppression," Stoltenberg said, as casualties toll rises in the Ukrainian state. While some member countries are supplying arms, ammunition, and other equipment to Ukraine, NATO as an organization is not, and it will not launch any military action in support of Ukraine, which is a close partner but has no prospect of joining.
He was addressing a press conference after NATO's envoys met in an emergency session on the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Preparations are also underway for a NATO summit, which will begin tomorrow (February 25, 2022).
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