NATO

NATO countries are not ready to discuss having Ukraine in the organisation and Kiev is now ready to discuss "some non-NATO models", an official said. "The response that we are getting from the NATO countries is that they are not ready to even discuss having us in NATO, not for the closest period of five or 10 years.

US and NATO officials monitoring the war in Ukraine noticed a pronounced shift earlier this week in Russias strategy, namely that Moscow now appears poised to "bombard cities into submission" which could inflict significant civilian casualties, CNN reported.

Russia has coined a four-point formula that would keep out NATO, the western military alliance, out of most of the territories that were once a part of the former Soviet Union. Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov stressed on Tuesday during a video address to the Conference on Disarmament that Moscow was seeking legally binding security guarantees from NATO members. These security guarantees were of "fundamental importance" to ensure peace in the region.

Visiting Secretary General of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) Jens Stoltenberg has stressed diplomatic efforts to solve the ongoing Ukraine crisis. Stoltenberg made the remarks at a joint press conference on Tuesday with Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas and visiting British Prime Minister Boris Johnson at the Tapa Army Base in northern Estonia.

North-Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) leaders said they are deploying more troops to eastern Europe after Russia's invasion of Ukraine, BBC reported. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said Russia has "shattered peace in Europe". NATO has deployed elements of its rapid response force on land, sea and in the air towards eastern Europe.

According to a journalist at Israel's Walla News, he told other leaders: "This might be the last time you see me alive." The Ukrainian presidential advisor earlier warned that Russia wants to kill Zelensky if it takes Ukraine's capital. It's believed Russia is planning to install a puppet government in Ukraine should it successfully capture Kiev, the report said.

The negotiations could put an end to Ukraine's NATO ambitions after its President Volodymyr Zelensky said he was willing to discuss Ukraine's "neutrality" -- a demand of Putin's -- in his latest attempt to appeal to the Russian leader to negotiate. The Kremlin said it took note of Zelensky's offer.

Maria Zakharova held a press conference and reflected on the ongoing conflict in Ukraine and the intentions of Russia going forward. A clip of her speech has begun to go viral on social media as she appears to issue a threat aimed at Sweden and Finland, saying it would have "serious military-political repercussions."

“We have been left alone to defend our state. Who is ready to fight alongside up? I don’t see anymore. Who is ready to give guarantee of NATO membership? Everyone is afraid,” President Zelensky said. The first day of the invasion has claimed (officially) 130 Ukrainian lives and injured more than 300 people.

NATO did not have combat troops inside Ukraine and it "had no intention of deploying NATO troops to Ukraine," Stoltenberg on Thursday told the press after an extraordinary meeting of the North Atlantic Council. NATO's response came as Putin on Thursday authorized "a special military operation" in the Donbas region, and Ukraine confirmed that military targets across the country were under attack, Xinhua reported.