© Provided by Associated Press NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, left, speaks with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken as they take part in a group photo at an extraordinary NATO foreign ministers meeting at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Friday, March 4, 2022. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken meets Friday with his counterparts from NATO and the European Union, as Russia’s war on Ukraine entered its ninth day marked by the seizure of the strategic port city of Kherson and the shelling of Europe’s largest nuclear power plant. (Olivier Douliery, Pool Photo via AP)

© Provided by Associated Press U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, right, speaks with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg during a group photo at an extraordinary NATO foreign ministers meeting at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Friday, March 4, 2022. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken meets Friday with his counterparts from NATO and the European Union, as Russia’s war on Ukraine entered its ninth day marked by the seizure of the strategic port city of Kherson and the shelling of Europe’s largest nuclear power plant. (Olivier Douliery, Pool Photo via AP)Under a collective security guarantee binding NATO’s 30 member countries — Article 5 of its founding treaty — all allies must come to the defense of an ally if it finds itself under attack. Any shooting down of a NATO warplane by Russia could trigger that clause.

“The only way to implement a no-fly zone is to send NATO fighter planes into Ukrainian airspace, and then impose that no-fly zone by shooting down Russian planes,” Stoltenberg said. He said allies believe that “if we did that, we would end up with something that could end in a full-fledged war in Europe.”

© Provided by Associated Press U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, right, poses with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg during a an extraordinary NATO foreign ministers meeting at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Friday, March 4, 2022. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken meets Friday with his counterparts from NATO and the European Union, as Russia’s war on Ukraine entered its ninth day marked by the seizure of the strategic port city of Kherson and the shelling of Europe’s largest nuclear power plant. (Olivier Douliery, Pool Photo via AP)Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has appealed for the West to enforce a no-fly zone over his country, most recently after a fire overnight at one of Ukraine’s nuclear plants, the largest in Europe.

But, Stoltenberg said, “we are not part of this conflict, and we have a responsibility to ensure that it does not escalate and spread beyond Ukraine, because that would be even more devastating and more dangerous.”

NATO members and officials are alarmed at Russian President Vladimir Putin’s threat to use nuclear weapons should one of their number get involved in his war on Ukraine. NATO has no weapons itself, but the United States, Britain and France are nuclear powers, like Russia.

NATO has mobilized thousands of troops backed by aircraft, tanks and heavy equipment and deployed them to countries on its eastern flank near Ukraine and Russia, such as Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Romania, which are nervous about Putin’s intentions for their future.

© Provided by Associated Press NATO ministers pose during a group photo at an extraordinary NATO foreign ministers meeting at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Friday, March 4, 2022. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken meets Friday with his counterparts from NATO and the European Union, as Russia’s war on Ukraine entered its ninth day marked by the seizure of the strategic port city of Kherson and the shelling of Europe’s largest nuclear power plant. (Olivier Douliery, Pool Photo via AP)At a second round of talks between Ukrainian and Russian delegations Thursday, Putin warned Ukraine that it must quickly accept the Kremlin’s demand for its “demilitarization” and declare itself a neutral country, thereby renouncing any bid to join NATO.

© Provided by Associated Press NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, front left, speaks with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, front center, as they take part in a group photo at an extraordinary NATO foreign ministers meeting at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Friday, March 4, 2022. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken meets Friday with his counterparts from NATO and the European Union, as Russia’s war on Ukraine entered its ninth day marked by the seizure of the strategic port city of Kherson and the shelling of Europe’s largest nuclear power plant. (AP Photo/Olivier Matthys)NATO insists that its door remains open to any European country that wants to join and can fulfill the obligations of membership. Stoltenberg said that the world’s biggest security organization will also step up cooperation with already close allies Finland and Sweden.

Blinken also held talks in Brussels Friday with members of the Group of Seven major powers and European Union countries.

© Provided by Associated Press Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, left, speaks with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg during a group photo at an extraordinary NATO foreign ministers meeting at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Friday, March 4, 2022. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken meets Friday with his counterparts from NATO and the European Union, as Russia’s war on Ukraine entered its ninth day marked by the seizure of the strategic port city of Kherson and the shelling of Europe’s largest nuclear power plant. (AP Photo/Olivier Matthys)

NATO rules out policing no-fly zone over war-hit Ukraine (msn.com)