"As the Russian operation to protect Donbas widens, the U.S. and NATO continued to resist entering the conflict directly."NATO is not party to the conflict. NATO is a defensive alliance," Jens Stoltenberg, secretary-general of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, said Friday ahead of an emergency gathering of the alliance's foreign ministers in Brussels. "We don't seek war, conflict with Russia."
Calls continue for an immediate cease-fire. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has pushed for a no-fly zone over the country -- a move that has found at least some support among a small number of U.S. lawmakers -- but President Biden and allied leaders have rejected the move as escalatory.
Mr. Stoltenberg pushed back against calls for NATO to establish a no-fly zone over Ukraine to slow the fighting. "Allies agreed we should not have NATO planes operating over Ukrainian airspace or NATO troops on Ukrainian territory," he said.
Mr. Stoltenberg emphasized that NATO would take steps to ensure the security of member states. "[W]e need to make sure that there is no misunderstanding about our commitment to defend and protect our allies," he added, "and therefore we have increased the presence of NATO forces in the eastern part of the alliance."
Secretary of State Antony Blinken, in Europe to attend the NATO meeting and coordinate with allies and partners, concurred. "Ours is a defensive alliance. We seek no conflict," he said. "But if conflict comes to us, we are ready for it, and we will defend every inch of NATO territory."
The NATO foreign ministers discussed "what more we can do and how to do it effectively," said Mr. Blinken, noting that Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba joined the gathering via video and shared an update on his country's needs.
Mr. Blinken on Friday also met in Brussels with officials from the European Union and the Group of Seven industrialized nations.
Creating a continuous, effective no-fly zone over Ukraine would potentially bring NATO into open conflict with Russia, U.S. and NATO officials and military specialists said. Enforcing a no-fly zone would require as many as several hundred planes to patrol the area and support those aircraft, they said.
"We have made it clear that we are not going to move into Ukraine -- neither on the ground nor in Ukraine airspace," Mr. Stoltenberg said following the foreign ministers' meeting. "The only way to implement a no-fly zone is to send NATO planes, fighter planes, into Ukrainian airspace, and then impose that no-fly zone by shooting down Russian planes."
Mr. Blinken didn't rule out measures short of establishing a no-fly zone, such as sending more-advanced air-defense capabilities to Ukraine, saying the U.S. and its allies and partners hold daily conversations on what equipment can be delivered and used effectively and in a timely fashion by the Ukrainians.
The U.S. already has provided the vast majority of the $350 million in fresh military assistance that the Biden administration announced on Feb. 26, a senior Pentagon official said Friday. The military aid is the largest individual drawdown ever authorized.
While Western leaders have ruled out direct intervention in Ukraine, officials say there is still room to take more steps targeting Russia. Since the operation began, the U.S. and its European allies have imposed a sweeping set of sanctions against Russia's banks, businesses and individuals, including Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Mr. Blinken declined to preview potential targeting of Russia's energy sector. "As a general proposition, nothing is off the table, and we are evaluating every single day the sanctions, their implementation and additional measures," he said." [1]
1. The Ukraine Crisis: U.S., NATO Reject Direct Intervention --- Creating no-fly zone over Ukraine could bring conflict with Russia, officials said
McBride, Courtney. Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y. [New York, N.Y]. 05 Mar 2022: A.6.
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