Zelenskyy Urges NATO To Impose No-Fly Zone Over Ukraine Or See Russian Rockets Fall On Member States

One of Moscow's stated conditions for ending the Russian offensive against Ukraine is for the latter to drop its ambitions to join NATO.

New Delhi: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Monday cautioned the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) that Russian missiles will fall on its member states if a no-fly zone is not imposed over his country.

The statement comes after 35 people were killed and more than 130 injured as waves of Russian missiles pounded a military training base on Sunday near Ukraine's western border with NATO member Poland.

In his virtual address on Monday, Zelenskyy said: "I reiterate that if you do not close our sky, it is only a matter of time before Russian missiles fall on your territory, on NATO territory, on the homes of NATO citizens".

"I had warned NATO that without preventive sanctions, Russia would begin a war and that Moscow would use Nord Stream 2 as a weapon," he stressed, as quoted by news agency ANI.

Earlier, NATO refused to impose a no-fly zone over Ukraine to control Russian bombing. Rather, they warned Russian President Vladimir Putin of fresh sanctions if he does not stop the war. 

"The only way to implement a no-fly zone is to send NATO fighter planes into Ukraine's airspace, and then impose that no-fly zone by shooting down Russian planes," NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg had said, as quoted by news agency AFP.

"If we did that, we'll end up with something that could end in a full-fledged war in Europe, involving many more countries and causing much more human suffering," he added.

President Zelenskyy had condemned the alliance for rejecting a no-fly zone over his country, saying that the alliance "gave the green light for further bombing of Ukrainian cities and villages".

"Knowing that new strikes and casualties are inevitable, NATO deliberately decided not to close the sky over Ukraine," he had said, as quoted by AFP.

"The leadership of the alliance gave the green light for further bombing of Ukrainian cities and villages, refusing to make a no-fly zone," Zelenskyy had stated.

Notably, Russia-Ukraine will hold virtual talks on Monday at 10:30 (local time) via video link, Russian state agency Sputnik reported quoting the Ukrainian delegation.

According to reports, one of Moscow's stated conditions for ending its "special military operation" against Ukraine is for the country to drop its ambitions to join NATO.

(With Agency Inputs)