New Delhi, February 24:
As Ukraine is in the face of what is one of the worst attacks by a state in Europe since the second World War, secretary-general of the North Atlantic Treaty Alliance (NATO) Jens Stoltenberg blamed Russia solely for the current situation and said the country is responsible for the “loss of lives” in the eastern European nation.
Stolenberg’s response came to a question by a journalist at a joint press conference held earlier in the day with European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen, and European Council president Charles Michel.
Notably, Ukraine’s desire to join the NATO is primarily the reason behind the current conflict in the eastern European country. Russia, which has several times in the past accused Ukraine of being a “puppet” in the hands of the West, is no stranger to the fact that the European nation’s NATO membership can significantly loosen its aim of bringing Donetsk and Luhansk under control.
Kremlin has sought guarantee from the NATO and western nations that no former members of the Soviet Republic – Ukraine was one, would be permitted to become a part of NATO. The alliance and the allies, have discarded Russian President Vladimir Putin’s fears of strengthened western impact on Ukraine in the past, and yet a war was declared on Thursday morning.
Stolenberg, during the joint press meet, made sure to put forth that Russia has no right to poke its nose in what Ukraine wants. He said whether the European nation wants to join NATO, and what the alliance’s member states think of its membership, is their “right to decide”.
“Russia has no right to attack, use violence, their armed forces to invade an independent, sovereign nation regardless of what they think of NATO membership. That’s not an excuse whatsoever to use military forces against your neighbour,” the NATO secretary-general clarified.
Backing his point, Stolenberg said that is not the kind of world where “we want to live in” where “big powers” like Russia uses military forces to try to “coerce” all the countries. “And if they don’t act as they want, they (Russia-like nations) invade them,” he added.
Speaking about a possible refugee influx in the neighbouring nations of Ukraine, Leyen said that the European Union is ready to host them. She, however, pointed out that the commission hopes such a situation will not arrive.
Several central European countries such as Poland, Slovakia and Hungary have already commenced to brace for a refugee influx, Reuters reported. Poland has set up refugee points on its border, while Slovakia and Hungary are planning to send troops to manage the arrival of Ukrainians.
Several of the world leaders and NATO allies such as British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and French President Emanuel Macron, have condemned the Russian invasion of Ukraine. While Macron warned said that France will “respond without weakness to this act of war”, Johnson reiterated his country being on the side of the Ukrainians.
“We cannot and will not not look away,” the UK prime minister said during an address to his nation on Thursday.
According to latest updates, a curfew has been declared in Kyiv by the city’s mayor Vitali Klitschko. Meanwhile, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has claimed that Russia is trying to seize Chernobyl, the site of the 1986 nuclear disaster. Russia has said that it has destroyed over 70 military targets since beginning its invasion of the east European nation, while Ukraine said 50 of its opponent occupiers have been killed.
