At separate press conferences in Brussels on Friday, Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg argued that the NATO no-fly zone was simply unrealistic because of the risk of direct conflict between Russia and NATO.
“The only way to actually introduce something like a no-fly zone is to send NATO planes into Ukrainian airspace and shoot down Russian planes, and that could lead to a full-fledged war in Europe. “President Biden has made it clear that we are not going to go to war with Russia,” Blinken told a news conference in Brussels on Friday, where he was meeting with European allies.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and other senior Ukrainian officials have continued to call on the West to introduce a no-fly zone to stop Russian bombing of Ukrainian cities, and they doubled those calls Friday after Russia’s attack on a nuclear power plant.
“Today I sent a letter to the President of the UN Security Council, recalling the Council’s decisions on no-fly zones during previous conflicts to prevent new civilian casualties,” said Ukrainian Ambassador to the UN Sergei Kislitsa at an emergency meeting of the Council. UN Security Council convened on Friday. after Russian forces attacked the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant.
“Urgent discussion on a ban on all flights in Ukraine’s airspace must be a top priority for the Security Council,” he added.
At the same meeting, US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield said the world “slightly prevented last night’s nuclear accident”. She called Russia’s actions “reckless” and “dangerous”, saying the attack put the nuclear power plant at serious risk and threatened the safety of civilians in Russia and across Europe.
Biden met with Finnish President Sauli Niinistö in the Oval Office on Friday, thanking the US president for his leadership in the current “very difficult times”.
“We agree and this is not just an attack on Ukraine, this is an attack on Europe’s security and global peace and stability,” Biden told reporters.
The coming days are “likely to be worse”
Stoltenberg warned on Friday after a meeting of NATO ministers that the coming days in Ukraine “are likely to be worse” with “more deaths, more suffering and more destruction”. He called for dialogue with Russia and reiterated that NATO was not seeking war with Russia, saying the no-fly zone over Ukraine was not an option being considered by the alliance.
“We agreed that we should not have NATO planes operating over Ukrainian airspace or NATO troops on Ukrainian territory,” Stoltenberg said. “Ministers agreed that NATO’s relations with Russia have changed fundamentally in the long run. But we remain committed to keeping the channels of diplomacy and deconflict open to avoid any fundamental escalation, misunderstanding or miscalculation. “
Blinken said the alliance is constantly looking for ways to provide Ukraine with the capabilities it needs to defend itself.
“Every day we look for what technologies, what capacities we can effectively deliver – to Ukraine to protect itself. And this is a constant conversation that happens literally every day, both with Ukraine and with civil servants, and between allies and partners. So, the main focus is on making sure that everything we provide can be used, used efficiently and … in a timely manner, “Blinken said.
NATO has deployed the Alliance’s response force for the first time by increasing the number of NATO troops stationed on its eastern flank, which borders Ukraine. Representatives of NATO and the United States have repeatedly said they will defend “every inch of NATO territory”, while citing US and European sanctions against Russia as a sign that the alliance is more united than ever.
Blinken highlighted sanctions against the central bank of Russia and cut Moscow off from the international payment messaging system SWIFT, while noting that the sanctions have separated Russian energy so that energy prices – and gas prices in the domestic market – do not rise.
“There is no strategic interest in reducing global energy supply. The immediate effect would be to raise pump prices for Americans, as well as to fill Russia’s profits with rising prices, “Blinken said, adding that nothing was” off the table. ” ”
“What happened in record time,” he added, “are sanctions and other measures that people would have said a few weeks ago would never happen.”
CNN’s Christian Sierra, Eli Kaufman, Nicki Carvajal, Martin Goylando, Lindsey Isaac and Christina Sguglia contributed to this report.