NATO condemns Russian invasion of Ukraine, rules out direct intervention

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine following an extraordinary meeting of the North Atlantic Council, during which the organisation promised to both “continue to do whatever is necessary to shield the Alliance from aggression” but at the same time appeared to rule out direct military intervention, at least for now.

“NATO Allies condemn Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in the strongest possible terms,” Stoltenberg told a press briefing this afternoon. 

“We call on Russia to immediately cease its military action, withdraw its forces from Ukraine, and choose diplomacy.” “We fully support Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and Ukraine’s right of self-defence” Stoltenberg added.

Today, the North Atlantic Council decided to activate NATO’s defence plans to protect Allied nations during this crisis, he said. “We will continue to do whatever is necessary to shield the Alliance from aggression,” Stoltenberg stated.

Fielding questions from reporters, Stoltenberg said that NATO doesn’t “have all the answers today, but there will be a new reality, it will be in New Europe after the invasion we saw today. Therefore, I welcome the fact that we are so closely coordinating, so closely working together in NATO. We stood together in warning against the Russian aggression, the plans, we stood together in reaching out to Russia and tried to prevent the attack and now we need to stand together in responding to the attack and that's exactly what we are doing.”

However, the Alliance’s Secretary General confirmed that NATO troops had not been deployed to Ukraine and that it had no plans to do so.

“No, there are no NATO combat troops inside Ukraine at all. We have made it clear that we do not have any plans and intention of deploying NATO troops to Ukraine. What we have made clear is that we have already increased and we are increasing the presence of NATO troops in the Eastern part of the Alliance on NATO territory.

“Ukraine is a highly valued partner. We have supported Ukraine for many, many years. We helped them to build a more modern capable armed force. Militarily, we have helped them to train, equip, and in many different ways to strengthen their armed forces. We helped them with cyber defences with NATO Allies in different ways. But we don't have NATO troops in Ukraine, and we don't have any plans to send NATO troops into Ukraine. But we are there to protect and defend all NATO Allies. So we support Ukraine. We provide absolute security guarantees for NATO Allies. And we demonstrate that commitment by increasing the presence in the Eastern part of the Alliance.”

“We are an Alliance of 30 democracies. Standing as one, We will protect our people and our values.

Democracy will always prevail over autocracy. Freedom will always prevail over oppression,” Stoltenberg concluded.