Simon Lewis and Sabine Siebold

BRUSSELS (Reuters). -NATO allies against Ukraine rejected Ukraine’s demand for no fly zones Friday. They claimed they were growing support but that stepping into directly would cause a broader and more brutal European conflict so far restricted to Russia’s attack on its neighbour.

Ukraine, an ex-Soviet republic, wants to join NATO and the European Union. It is currently not part of any one. The EU has so far supported Russia with severe sanctions. On Friday, the EU said that more financial sanctions were still to be imposed on Russia.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said at a news conference, “We’re not in this conflict.”

We have a responsibility, as NATO allies, to keep this war in Ukraine from growing beyond Ukraine. It would only be more risky and more destructive for the human race.

Volodymyr Zeleskiy, President of Ukraine, has called on the West to enforce a no flight zone. This is after Moscow attacked nine days earlier. Russia attacked cities with shelling and then brought combat to Europe’s most powerful nuclear facility.

Dmytro Kuleba, Ukraine’s Foreign Minister said in a video that Putin should “turn Ukraine into Syria” in response to Russia’s devastating campaign against the rebel areas in Ukraine.

He said, “Act now before its too late,” in a message posted to Twitter (NYSE:).

Stoltenberg stated that NATO was aware of Ukraine’s desperate situation, calling Russia’s invasion in Ukraine “horrific”, and warning the worst was still to come with Russia deploying more heavy weapons.

He said, “But we also believe we could do that (a no fly zone),” which would involve many other countries.

NATO countries have been sending weapons to Ukraine. However, they did not go ahead with military action. All nuclear power are Russia, NATO members United States of America, Britain and France.

Stoltenberg stated that NATO’s only option to establish a no fly zone is to send NATO aircraft to strike down Russian planes. He also said that there was too high a risk of an escalation.

He said, “Allies agree that NATO should not operate over Ukrainian airspace nor NATO troops in Ukraine.”

Antony Blinken, the U.S. Secretary-of State, stated that NATO would protect “every inch of NATO territory” from attacks. Ours is a defense alliance. We seek no conflict. However, we will be ready for conflict if it occurs,” Blinken declared.

MORE EU SANCTIONS

European Union members, most of whom are NATO members, said that they would not be deploying military forces to Ukraine. Instead, they plan to increase economic sanctions in addition to the already existing restrictions on Russia’s elites and financial system.

Six EU officials spoke out to Reuters saying that officials at the International Monetary Fund are looking into ways Russia can be restricted in its influence and financial access.

Josep Borrell was the top diplomat in the bloc and stated that new sanctions were an option.

However, it was unclear when the EU of 27 nations would agree to specific measures due to member states’ differences on how they do business with Moscow, and certain countries’ dependence on Russian energy sources.

When Borrell was asked by reporters about the possibility of suspending EU gas imports from Russia (which think tank Eurointelligence stated amount to $700,000,000 per day even during war), Borrell replied, “We will be considering everything.”

Simon Coveney, Ireland’s foreign minister, said that no new sanctions will be issued on Friday, but added that another round of sanctions could impact more Russian banks’ access the SWIFT international payment system. This would allow Russian vessels to be barred from European ports, and reduce imports such as steel, timber or aluminium.

Putin’s “special military operation,” he claimed, was to demilitarize Ukraine and get rid of the fascist government in Ukraine. Zelenskiy believes Moscow seeks to stop the growth of a liberal democracy at Russia’s frontier.

Russian invading forces took control of Europe’s most powerful nuclear power plant Friday. The fighting was intense in Southeastern Ukraine. It sparked global alarm. But a large fire at a training center has been put out, and officials declared the building safe.

Coveney from Ireland said that “This does not only concern Russia and Ukraine.” It’s all about us, the people who reside on Europe’s continent and could be affected by an accident or breach of this facility.