NATO Calls on Putin to Leave Ukraine Unconditionally

NATO calls on Russian President Vladimir Putin to withdraw his troops from Ukraine without conditions and to turn to “real diplomacy”.

The alliance is keeping “all avenues open for a diplomatic solution” to the conflict, NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said after an emergency meeting in Brussels of NATO’s 30 foreign ministers on the war in Ukraine.

Stoltenberg warned that if not stopped, the war would get worse, “with more deaths, more suffering and more destruction”. And that NATO does not want to be involved in this. “We are not seeking war with Russia,” Stoltenberg said. He stressed why the alliance is not sending any planes into Ukrainian airspace and no troops into the country.

However, NATO will “do everything” to defend every inch of the territory of the thirty NATO countries, should Russia involve one of the NATO countries in the conflict. There are 140 military jets and more than 200 NATO ships on standby on the outskirts of Ukraine, he said. Ukraine is not a member of NATO.