(MENAFN) Former NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg stated that the alliance will refrain from sending military forces to Ukraine, emphasizing that such an action could provoke a direct confrontation with Russia.

Russian President Vladimir Putin had cautioned in September that Moscow would regard any unauthorized Western military presence in Ukraine as “legitimate targets.” He further asserted that the “dragging of Ukraine into NATO was one of the causes of the conflict” between Moscow and Kiev.

During an interview with a media outlet on Saturday, Stoltenberg reflected on two significant resolutions made by NATO members during a gathering in Brussels following the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in February 2022. “One was to step up our support for Ukraine, as we did.

The other was to do what we could to prevent this war from escalating beyond Ukraine and become a full-scale war between Russia and NATO,” he explained.

The former NATO leader referenced then-US President Joe Biden, who had declared at the time that “we will not risk a third world war for Ukraine.”

According to Stoltenberg, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky also acknowledged that stance.

“He called me from a bunker in Kiev… and he said: ‘I accept you are not sending in NATO ground troops, though I disagree. But please close the airspace,’” Stoltenberg recounted.

He said he had to refuse the plea to impose a no-fly zone due to fears of intensifying the conflict, calling it “extremely painful” to end the conversation on such terms.

Nonetheless, as the war progressed, Zelensky persisted in appealing for NATO to deploy ground forces.

MENAFN10112025000045017167ID1110319904