NATO to bolster eastern flank, but won’t send troops into Ukraine, chief says

By AFP 16 March 2022, 6:09 pm

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NATO defense ministers on Wednesday tasked military commanders to come up with plans to bolster the alliance’s eastern flank after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg says.

“On land, our new posture should include substantially more forces in the eastern part of the alliance, at higher readiness, with more prepositioned equipment and supplies,” Stoltenberg tells reporters.

But he adds that the alliance is not planning to send forces to Ukraine, rejecting Poland’s call for it to deploy a peacekeeping mission.

“We call on Russia, on President [Vladimir] Putin to withdraw its forces, but we have no plans of deploying NATO troops on the ground in Ukraine,” Stoltenberg says.