The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, (NATO) also called the North Atlantic Alliance, has ordered its commanders to prepare to defend allied territory after Russia launched an invasion of Ukraine, putting hundreds of warplanes and ships on alert.
The order to intensify military preparations to defend NATO territory comes after the alliance agreed to increase troop numbers on its eastern flank.
NATO’s order came as world leaders decried the start of the invasion that could cause massive casualties, topple Ukraine’s democratically elected government and threaten the post-Cold War balance.
The alliance’s Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said he had convened a virtual emergency summit of NATO’s 30 nations for Friday.
The summit is set to include U.S. President Joe Biden, and they would be joined by the leaders of Sweden, Finland, and European Union institutions.
Russian forces invaded Ukraine by land, air, and sea on Thursday, confirming the worst fears of the West with the biggest attack by one state against another in Europe since World War Two.
‘Peace on our continent has been shattered,’ Stoltenberg told a news conference. ‘Russia is using force to try to rewrite history, and deny Ukraine its free and independent path.’
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The activation of NATO’s ‘graduated response plans’ is a rare step that Stoltenberg said underscored the gravity of a ‘full-fledged invasion’ of Ukraine, giving allied commanders greater scope for decision-making.
‘This is a deliberate, cold-blooded, and long-planned invasion,’ Stoltenberg said. ‘Russia’s unjustified, unprovoked attack on Ukraine is putting countless innocent lives at risk with air and missile attacks.’
Ukraine is not a member of the alliance and Stoltenberg said there were no NATO troops in the country. ‘What we do is defensive,’ he said.
But NATO is now set to step up its plans to deploy capabilities and forces, including the high combat-readiness NATO Response Force, to eastern European countries.
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