- EU leader says closing Ukraine airspace could spark World War III
Russian President Vladimir Putin tells his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron that Moscow plans to achieve its aims in Ukraine either through diplomacy or military means, the Elysee says.
Russia would reach its objectives in Ukraine “either through negotiation or through war,” Putin tells Macron according to a French presidential official.
The official adds that the Russian president also pledged “it was not his intention” to attack Ukrainian nuclear sites.
Europe’s largest atomic power plant was attacked and seized by invading Russian forces on Friday.
Ukraine has four nuclear plants with a total of 15 reactors.
This is as European Union (EU) leader Charles Michel says closing Ukraine’s airspace could spark a world war.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has repeatedly called on NATO countries to stop the Russian onslaught on his country by imposing a no-fly zone.
Western leaders have refused for fear of triggering a wider war in Europe. Deploying fighter jets over Ukraine could “in current circumstances” be considered as “NATO’s entry into the war and therefore risk World War III,” Michel says in an interview with the public broadcaster France Inter.
Michel denies economic sanctions against Russia constitute “a war of the EU or NATO against Russia.” Russian President Vladimir Putin has linked the West’s economic punishment for his invasion of Ukraine to “declaring war” on Moscow.
Michel says European and American allies imposed sanctions “to create pressure and hurt the (Russian) regime,” not the people.
