NATO

“We have a concept of domestic security, and it's public. You can read all the reasons for nuclear arms to be used… So if it is an existential threat for our country, then it can be used in accordance with our concept,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told CNN. The US has responded to these statements saying that Moscow is not behaving like a responsible nuclear power.

“(There has been) a united front throughout NATO and in the Pacific… The Quad is, with the possible exception of India being somewhat shaky on some of this, but Japan has been dealing extremely strongly (and) so has Australia,” President Biden said at a meeting of US business leaders. The US and its allies have responded swiftly and strongly to the Russian invasion of Ukraine via crippling economic sanctions on Moscow.  

Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the US Ambassador to the UN, has warned that there was little immediate hope of a negotiated end to the war in Ukraine, as pressure continued to build on American President Joe Biden ahead of a crucial NATO summit in Europe this week, the Guardian reported.

“Going against the trend to pursue the Indo-Pacific strategy, provoke trouble, put together closed and exclusive small circles or groups, and get the region off course toward fragmentation and bloc-based division is as dangerous as the NATO strategy of eastward expansion in Europe,” the Vice-Minister said at the Fourth International Forum on Security and Strategy hosted by the Center for International Security and Strategy in Beijing.  

The EU "is not at war with Russia", European Council President Charles Michel told El Pais in an interview published on Monday. Western nations should not get involved in the conflict between Moscow and Kiev, he said, arguing that a confrontation between Russia and NATO would mean nothing short of nuclear world war, RT reported.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has renewed his call to NATO leaders to establish a no-fly zone over his country, warning that it was only a matter of time that Russian missiles would also fall on the alliance's territories. A no-fly zone refers to any region of airspace where it has been established that certain aircraft cannot fly.

“I have cooled down regarding this question a long time ago after we understood that ... NATO is not prepared to accept Ukraine… The alliance is afraid of controversial things, and confrontation with Russia,” Zelensky said. Referring to an ever-elusive NATO membership, President Zelensky said that he does not want to lead a country which has to beg on “its knees” it.    

NATO was created in 1949 by the US, Canada, and several Western European nations to provide collective security against the then Soviet Union. There are currently 30 member states. Ukranian President Volodymr Zelensky wanted his country to be part of NATO to which Russian President Vladimir Putin had opposed, eventually leading to war.

The Hungarian government on Monday issued a decree allowing NATO troops to be deployed in western Hungary, and weapons shipments to cross its territory by land or by air to other NATO member states. However, the decree signed by Prime Minister Viktor Orban and published in the official gazette on Monday forbids transit of "lethal weapons" across Hungary to Ukraine, Xinhua news agency reported.

The ongoing conflict, triggered through the invasion of Russia in Ukraine, has brought the world into a divided approach between the west and the east. The NATO, US, UK and the European Union (EU) are taking to global platforms like the UN General Assembly (UNGA) to gather global support in condemning Russia over its aggression in Ukraine.