AFP
This handout video grab taken and released by the Ukraine Presidency press service on March 4, 2022, shows Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky delivering an address in Kiev.
NATO on Friday rejected Ukrainian calls to help it protect its skies from Russian missiles and warplanes, wary of being dragged into Moscow's conflicts with its neighbor, but Europe promised more sanctions.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky strongly criticized the decision, saying the alliance had given Russia the green light to continue its bombing campaign.
He had earlier appealed to NATO to set up a no-fly zone over Ukraine.
"We are not part of this conflict," NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said in denying Ukraine's request.
"We have a responsibility as NATO allies to prevent this war from escalating beyond Ukraine because that would be even more dangerous, more devastating and would cause even more human suffering," he said following a NATO meeting in Brussels.
Ukraine wants to join the European Union and NATO, moves which Moscow says threaten its security and influence.
"Today there was a NATO summit, a weak summit, a confused summit, a summit where it was clear that not everyone considers the battle for Europe's freedom to be the No.1 goal," Zelensky said a televised address late on Friday.
"Today, the leadership of the alliance gave the green light for further bombing of Ukrainian cities and villages, having refused to set up a no-fly zone."
While the West condemned Putin, members of the 30-strong NATO are bound to defend each other in case of attack and wary of sinking into a war with nuclear-armed Russia. The EU threatened more sanctions but it was not clear what it could do.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the alliance would defend "every inch" of NATO territory and that Moscow should not doubt Washington's resolve.
But the alliance – in which the United States, Britain and France are also nuclear powers – dashed Ukraine's hopes of immediate help.