Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky has accused NATO of enabling further Russia onslaught against its cities, following the defence bloc’s refusal to establish a “no-fly” zone over Ukraine. 

In an address, Mr Zelensky said that those who opposed the move would be responsible for all the civilian deaths going forward.

“All the people who will die starting from this day will also die because of you. Because of your weakness, because of your disunity,” Mr Zelensky said.

On Friday, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said the topic of a no-fly zone was “mentioned” at Friday’s summit in Brussels but that it was agreed there should not be NATO aircraft operating over Ukraine’s territory.

The defence bloc has said it was not seeking conflict with Russia, adding that it would remain committed to keeping channels for diplomacy and deconfliction open.

“We’ve agreed that we should not have NATO planes operating over Ukrainian airspace or NATO troops on Ukrainian territory,” Mr Stoltenberg said.

Implementation of a no-fly zone over Ukraine would likely require NATO forces to shoot down Russian aircraft and disable air defense systems stationed on Russian territory.

If a Russian aircraft flew into a NATO no-fly zone, then NATO forces would have to take action against that aircraft. In light of the failure of a diplomatic approach to end the conflict, shooting Russian aircraft out of the sky could likely escalate the conflict.

Neither Ukraine nor Russia is a member of NATO. Russia’s Vladimir Putin has criticised NATO’s expansion towards Russia, using it as justification for his invasion of Ukraine.