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Ukraine President, Zelenskyy Calls NATO Weak And Confused

Published

3 years ago

March 6, 2022

Ukraine president attacks ‘weak’ NATO summit saying people will ‘die because of you’

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky has said people will die because of NATO’s weakness in not imposing a no-fly zone over the country in a scathing attack..

The leader’s messages have rallied Ukrainians as they fight the Russian army amid heavy shelling.

But in a bitter and emotional speech he hit out at the way that NATO has not imposed a no-fly zone which would have given civilians some protection from the air.

“All the people who die from this day forward will also die because of you, because of your weakness, because of your lack of unity,” he said in a night-time address.

He stated: “Today there was a NATO summit, a weak summit, a confused summit, a summit where it was clear that not everyone considers the battle for Europe’s freedom to be the number one goal.

“Today, the leadership of the alliance gave the green light for further bombing of Ukrainian cities and villages, having refused to set up a no-fly zone.”

NATO refused to impose a no-fly zone, warning that to do so could provoke widespread war in Europe with nuclear-armed Russia.

“All that the alliance was able to do today was to pass through its procurement system 50 tonnes of diesel fuel for Ukraine. Perhaps so we could burn the Budapest Memorandum,” Zelensky said, referring to the 1994 security guarantees given to Ukraine in exchange for the withdrawal of its Soviet-era nuclear weapons.

“You will not be able to pay us off with litres of fuel for the litres of our blood, shed for our common Europe.”

Zelensky had earlier appealed to NATO to set up a no-fly zone over Ukraine, which Russia invaded by land, sea and air on February 24.

“We are not part of this conflict,” NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said in denying Ukraine’s request.

“We have a responsibility as NATO allies to prevent this war from escalating beyond Ukraine because that would be even more dangerous, more devastating and would cause even more human suffering,” he said following a NATO meeting in Brussels.

Ukraine, a former Soviet republic, wants to join the European Union and NATO, moves which Moscow says threaten its security and influence. Russia has shelled residential areas and civilian infrastructure, as well as capturing two nuclear sites.

While the West condemned Putin, members of the 30-strong NATO are bound to defend each other in case of attack and wary of sinking into a war with nuclear-armed Russia.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the alliance would defend “every inch” of NATO territory and that Moscow should not doubt Washington’s resolve.

“Ours is a defensive alliance. We seek no conflict. But if conflict comes to us, we are ready,” he said.

“We’ll continue to raise the cost for President Putin. Unless the Kremlin changes course, it will continue down the road of increasing isolation and economic pain.”

But the alliance – in which the United States, Britain and France are also nuclear powers – dashed Ukraine’s hopes of immediate help that Kyiv says could turn the tables in the war.

“We should not have NATO planes operating over Ukrainian airspace or NATO troops operating in Ukrainian territory,” Stoltenberg said.