NATO ordered his commanders to prepare for the defense of allied territory thereafter Russia began an invasion of Ukrainebringing hundreds of warplanes and ships into combat readiness.
The order to step up military preparations for defense on NATO territory comes after the alliance agreed to increase the number of its troops on its eastern flank.
NATO’s order came when world leaders condemned the start of an invasion that could cause mass casualties. of Ukraine democratically elected government and threaten the balance after the Cold War.
Alliance Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said he had convened a virtual emergency summit of NATO’s 30 countries on Friday.
The summit is expected to be attended by US President Joe Biden and will be joined by the leaders of Sweden, Finland and the European Union institutions.
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg (pictured Thursday) says he has convened a virtual emergency summit of 30 NATO countries on Friday
Russian forces invaded Ukraine by land, air and sea on Thursday, confirming the West’s worst fears with one country’s biggest attack on another in post-World War II Europe.
“The peace of our continent has been broken,” Stoltenberg told a news conference. “Russia is using force to try to rewrite history and deny Ukraine a free and independent path.”
Activating NATO’s “phased response plans” is a rare step that Stoltenberg says underscores the gravity of a “full-fledged invasion” of Ukraine, giving Allied commanders more room for decision.
“This is a deliberate, cold-blooded and long-planned invasion,” Stoltenberg said. “Russia’s unjustified, unprovoked attack on Ukraine puts countless innocent lives at risk with air and missile attacks.”
Ukraine is not a member of the alliance, and Stoltenberg said there are no NATO troops in the country. “What we are doing is defensive,” he said.
But now NATO is ready to step up plans to deploy capabilities and forces, including NATO’s high-alert force, in Eastern European countries.
Soldiers of the Ukrainian military blocked the road in the so-called government district of Kiev on February 24, 2022, when the Russian ground forces invaded Ukraine today from several directions
Russian Ka-52 combat helicopter seen in the field after forced landing outside Kiev, Ukraine, Thursday, February 24, 2022. Russia on Thursday struck a bite of air and missile strikes on Ukrainian facilities across the country
Pictured: Map showing NATO’s European allies. NATO’s eastern border runs through western Ukraine, and in some cases – such as Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania – borders Russia.
NATO also plans to set up combat units in Romania and Bulgaria, and possibly in Hungary and Slovakia, similar to those already set up in the Baltic states and Poland.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine appears to have spurred support for such a move in Slovakia, with the Slovak government saying any new plans for the battle group would include Slovakia.
“The device will be manufactured by countries that are geographically close to us. There will be about several hundred soldiers who will come with equipment that we do not have and that will significantly increase our ability to defend our country, “said Slovak Defense Minister Jaroslav Nad.
NATO has already strengthened its eastern flank against Russia. President Vladimir Putin has warned that any intervention by other countries will have “consequences you have never seen in history.”
Lithuania, a member of the European Union and NATO, has declared a state of emergency, as the Baltic state borders Russia’s Kaliningrad region to the southwest and Russia’s ally Belarus to the east.
NATO countries had 100 aircraft and 120 ships on high alert as a deterrent.
“Make no mistake: we will defend every ally against every attack every inch of NATO territory,” Stoltenberg said.
US Army troops from 173rdAbnBde arrived in Latvia this morning, with the first US forces repositioned in the Baltic states to strengthen NATO’s eastern flank
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen will present EU leaders late Thursday with a proposal aimed at strategic sectors of the Russian economy by blocking access to key technologies and markets.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Stoltenberg called the invasion a “barbaric” attack on an independent nation that threatens “stability in Europe and the entire international peace order.”
The EU has scheduled an extraordinary summit in Brussels.
But no one promised to join the military and defend Ukraine at the risk of starting a bigger European war. Ukraine is not a member of NATO, and the United States and its Western allies have said for weeks that they will not send troops to the country.
Instead, the goal is to force Moscow to pay such a high price by other means that the Kremlin will change course.
“Our mission is clear: diplomatically, politically, economically and possibly militarily, this disgusting and barbaric undertaking by Vladimir Putin must end in failure,” said British Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
Almost the whole world – but not China – condemned the attack and threatened to strike at Russia’s elite with, in the words of the EU president, “massive and targeted sanctions”.
Von der Layen said he would present a proposal to EU leaders late Thursday that would target strategic sectors of the Russian economy by blocking access to key technologies and markets.
She said the sanctions, if approved, would “weaken Russia’s economic base and its modernization capacity”. In addition, we will freeze Russian assets in the European Union and stop Russian banks from accessing European financial markets. “
“We want to cut off Russian industry from the technologies that are desperately needed today to build the future,” von der Layen said.
She said all Western powers were on the brink of crisis.
NATO Enhanced Front Presence Battlegroups (eFPs) from Estonia and the United Kingdom during military training in the Central Training Zone on 8 February 2022 in Lasna, Estonia
Canadian soldiers are pictured during a visit by the Canadian Secretary of Defense to Adaji, Latvia, on February 3, 2022.
US President Joe Biden has already convened a morning meeting of his National Security Council in Washington to assess the situation.
Stressing the growing rift in relations with the superpowers, China was left alone not to condemn the attack and instead accused the United States and its allies of exacerbating the crisis.
China has gone further and approved wheat imports from Russia, a move that could reduce the impact of Western sanctions. Russia, one of the world’s largest producers of wheat, would be vulnerable if foreign markets were closed.
In clear defense of Moscow, China “called on countries to respect legitimate concerns for the safety of others.”
Foreign Ministry spokesman Hua Chunin said “all countries should work for peace, instead of escalating tensions or inflating the possibility of war” – a language China has consistently used to criticize the West in the crisis.
One thing was clear: weeks of diplomatic negotiations, a global crossroads of leaders and foreign ministers, and the threat of sanctions against Putin’s inner circle failed to persuade the Kremlin not to plunge Europe into one of its biggest post-Cold War crises.
The unrest caused by the attack spread from Europe to Asia. Stock markets collapsed, oil prices soared and European aviation officials warned of the danger to civilian aircraft over Ukraine amid fighting.
Oil prices rose by more than $ 5 a barrel. Brent oil briefly jumped above $ 100 a barrel in London for the first time since 2014 amid fears of a cut in supplies from Russia, the No. 3 producer.
The possible consequences extend far beyond economics and geopolitics.
The director of the African Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is worried that the crisis will further distract the world from helping the world’s least vaccinated continent to fight COVID-19.