NATO has placed hundreds of warplanes and ships on alert. It also agreed to increase troop numbers in Eastern Europe.
On Thursday, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said he had convened a virtual meeting of the 30-nation bloc on Friday, which would be attended by US President Joe Biden. He will be joined by leaders from Sweden, Finland and the European Union.
On Thursday, Russia attacked Ukraine by land, air and sea. It confirms the West’s worst fears about a major attack on a European state by a state since World War II.
“The peace of our continent is shattered,” Jens Stoltenberg told a news conference. Russia is using force to rewrite history and refuse to give Ukraine its free and independent passage.
“This is a deliberate, cruel and well-planned attack,” he said. Russia’s unprovoked, unprovoked attack on Ukraine has endangered countless innocent lives with air and missile strikes.
Ukraine is not part of NATO, and according to Jens Stoltenberg, there are no NATO troops there.
“All we can do is defend,” he said.
But NATO is now ready to step up its plans to deploy forces in Eastern European countries, including a highly trained NATO Response Force.
NATO is also planning to build combat units in Romania, Bulgaria, and possibly Hungary and Slovakia – already in the Baltic states and Poland.