Former NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has emphasised that the alliance will not provoke a third world war over the conflict in Ukraine.
Stoltenberg, who led NATO from 2014 to 2024 and now serves as Norway’s Finance Minister, recalled a conversation with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in February 2022. At the time, Zelensky requested a no-fly zone over Ukraine to prevent Russian aircraft and drones from attacking Ukrainian territory.
Stoltenberg explained that implementing such a measure would have required NATO to strike Russian air defence systems in Belarus and Russia. Engaging a Russian aircraft in the air would have instantly escalated the situation into a full-scale war between NATO and Russia, something the alliance was determined to avoid.
“I understood that NATO would not send ground troops, and while I knew that was disappointing for Ukraine, establishing a no-fly zone would have risked a direct conflict with Russia,” Stoltenberg said. He cited the stance taken by then-US President Joe Biden, noting that the United States would not risk a third world war for Ukraine’s sake.
Stoltenberg stressed that NATO’s approach has been to support Ukraine without directly entering the conflict. The alliance continues to provide military, financial, and humanitarian assistance to help Ukraine defend itself, but it deliberately avoids deploying troops to engage Russian forces directly.
“Our goal is not to create a situation where the entire alliance becomes involved in the conflict,” Stoltenberg explained. “We want Ukraine to be able to defend itself, but we also want to avoid actions that could trigger a much wider war. I continue to believe that this measured approach is the right one.”
