Nato chief says Russia launched a ‘cold-blooded invasion’ on Ukraine
- Russian troops launched a wide-ranging attack on Ukraine after Putin order
- Nato to send more troops to eastern flank, activate defence plans for allies
03:49
Russia begins attack on Ukraine as US and Nato vow response
Nato’s secretary general says Russia has launched war on Ukraine and shattered peace on the European continent.
Jens Stoltenberg called Russia’s attack on Ukraine a “deliberate, cold-blooded and long-planned invasion”. And he charged that “Russia is using force to try to rewrite history”.
The developments were announced after an emergency meeting of ambassadors of Nato’s 30 member states, hours after Russia carried out air and missile strikes on Ukraine and sent in tanks and soldiers.
Russian’s Defence Ministry claimed it had subdued Ukrainian air defences and knocked out the country’s airbases in an assault that Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba called “a full-scale invasion”.
Ukrainian border guards also reported Russian ground forces had crossed into Ukraine from several directions, in what could be biggest attack by one state against another in Europe since World War Two.