The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) has said it does not seek conflict with Russia, maintaining that it remains committed to keeping channels for diplomacy and deconfliction open.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said this on Friday after an extraordinary meeting of NATO Ministers of Foreign Affairs. 

“We have a responsibility to ensure it does not escalate and spread beyond Ukraine. Because that would be even more devastating and more dangerous. With even more human suffering,” Mr Stoltenberg said. “NATO is not seeking a war with Russia.”

Mr Stoltenberg said the alliance remained committed to keeping deconfliction channels with Russia open.

“But we remain committed to keeping channels for diplomacy and deconfliction open. To avoid any unintended escalation, misunderstanding, or miscalculation,” he said.

Mr Stoltenberg also mentioned that the security organisation had not considered declaring a no-fly zone over Ukraine.

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

This address follows Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky calling for NATO and Western allies to enforce a no-fly zone over Ukraine amid Russia’s ongoing invasion and aerial attacks of its cities.

On Thursday, European Council President Charles Michel said that enforcing a no-fly zone over Ukraine is a NATO decision, adding that it presented a “real risk of escalation and a real risk of a possible third international war.” 

The United States has said that it will not put US troops in the air to create a no-fly zone in Ukraine, according to the US ambassador to the United Nations.

Mr Zelensky had put in an official request to join the European Union. The EU parliament has adopted a resolution on Tuesday calling on the European Union institutions “to work towards granting” Ukraine the status of EU candidate country. 

In February, the defence bloc decided to deploy the NATO Response Force to thwart Russia’s ongoing attack on Ukraine. This was the first time the Force would be deployed since its inception. 

The NATO Response Force is made of land, air, maritime and Special Operations Forces sections and is designed to be deployed swiftly in the event of disaster relief, active combat or even for training purpose.