NATO to hold meeting over Ukraine today: What you should know

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) will on Friday hold an emergency meeting over Russia’s launch of a full-scale attack in Ukraine.

NATO allies rushed to bolster their eastern flank, according to news agency AFP, after Russian president Vladimir Putin ordered the attack on Ukraine last week. But the allies remained adamant that they won’t get ‘military involved’ in Ukraine, which is not a member of the alliance yet.

Last week, in response to the invasion, the NATO – for the first time – activated its rapid response force to bolster defences. “We have activated NATO’s defense plans to prepare ourselves to respond to a range of contingencies and secure Alliance territory, including by drawing on our response forces,” a joint statement read.

Despite appeals, the US-led alliance has rejected the idea of imposing a no-fly zone over Ukraine amid Russian forces launching multiple airstrikes against civilian locations in the war-ravaged country. The alliance argued that the imposition of a no-fly zone could turn into a nuclear conflict with Russia.

NATO’s meeting comes a day after Russia and Ukraine held the second round of ceasefire talks in Belarus on Thursday. Both the countries discussed military and humanitarian issues and a future political settlement of the ongoing conflict. Moscow and Kyiv agreed to organise humanitarian corridors to evacuate civilians along with a possible temporary ceasefire in areas where the evacuation is taking place.

The war on Ukraine, which is worsening with each passing day, has seen over 750 civilian casualties till now but the official figures could be much higher. As many as one million people have fled the country so far and the United Nations predicts that this number can eventually climb to four million.

Moscow has said it has suffered 498 casualties and more than 1,500 soldiers have been wounded but Kyiv has put the toll – of the Russian troops who have died – in thousands.