KYIV, 06 March 2022, (TON): Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky lashed NATO for ruling out a no-fly zone over his country saying the Western military alliance knew further Russian aggression was likely.

Earlier, NATO rejected Ukraine’s request to impose a no-fly zone to halt Russia’s bombing, but Western allies did warn President Vladimir Putin of fresh sanctions if he does not stop the war.

Zelensky said “knowing that new strikes and casualties are inevitable, NATO deliberately decided not to close the sky over Ukraine.”

“We believe that the NATO countries themselves have created a narrative that the closing of the skies over Ukraine would provoke direct Russian aggression against NATO.”

NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg had said “the alliance would not intervene in the conflict over fears of a direct clash with Moscow that could spiral into a wider conflict.”

Stoltenberg said after the urgent meeting “the only way to implement a no-fly zone is to send NATO fighter planes into Ukraine’s airspace, and then impose that no-fly zone by shooting down Russian planes.”