At the end of the summit, NATO has once again ruled out sending troops to Ukraine, which is not a member of the Alliance, aircraft in the sky and the imposition of a no-fly zone, which would involve a direct confrontation with Russia.
A “turning point” in the history of NATO and a “shock” for a generation that has not known the threat of war: the expressions used Thursday by Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo perfectly illustrate the state of mind of the leaders of the thirty NATO countries – and of the West in general – in the face of the offensive launched a month ago by Russia to conquer Ukraine.
The head of the federal government was speaking at the end of an extraordinary summit of allied heads of state and government held in Brussels and devoted exclusively to the invasion of Ukraine by Russian forces, before a G7 summit and the participation of U.S. President Joe Biden at the spring summit of the European Union.
The first result obtained by Russian President Vladimir Putin, who was hoping for a quick victory but who must admit the slowness of the offensive led by his army in the face of fierce resistance from the Ukrainian army and people, is however the opposite of his geostrategic objectives: NATO, whose expansion he has denounced since the end of the Cold War, has been strengthened in Eastern Europe, while de facto closing the door to Kiev.
Support for Ukraine
He said that Nato would provide Ukraine with equipment to protect against chemical, biological and nuclear threats and to protect its forces deployed in the East against these threats.
Any use of chemical weapons by Russia in Ukraine would be unacceptable and would have far-reaching consequences, warned Mr. Stoltenberg on Wednesday, while U.S. President Joe Biden, leaving Washington for Brussels, said that a Russian attack of this type was “a credible threat.
However, Nato has ruled out sending troops to Ukraine, which is not a member of the Alliance – but a close “partner”, aircraft in the sky and the imposition of a no-fly zone, which would imply a direct confrontation with Russia.
