A NATO rift has emerged between Prime Minister Boris Johnson and French president Emmanuel Macron as the leaders disagree on sending arms to Ukraine.
Mr Johnson has pledged to send extra missiles and men to Ukraine and urged Western allies to follow suit at the emergency summit in Brussels yesterday.
Mr Macron said extensive military assistance risks crossing a “red line” and fears NATO could be dragged into the conflict with Russia.
Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy addressed the summit on Thursday via video link and pleaded with G7 leaders to offer “1 percent of all your planes, 1 percent of all your tanks”.
G7 leaders during a Nato summit in Brussels, Belgium to discuss Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Henry Nicholls
Mr Zelensky said: “To save people and our cities, Ukraine needs military assistance without restrictions. In the same way that Russia is using its full arsenal without restrictions against us.”
He once again implored to be accepted into the EU and then went on to thank the Western military alliance for the equipment provided so far
Prime Minister Boris Johnson, France's President Emmanuel Macron and U.S. President Joe Biden
Henry Nicholls
As part of Mr Johnson’s new military support package, he will provide Ukraine’s military personel with 6,000 new missiles and £25 million in financial backing.
The announcement is on top of the £400 million the UK has committed in humanitarian and economic aid for the crisis so far, the government said.
Mr Macron brought a map to the summit that detailed how much his troops are doing to support the security of his allies.
The French president asl used the meeting to call for an urgent international food security plan to avert “famine” in vulnerable countries caused by the war.
Speaking in the aftermath of the Brussels summit, Joe Biden warned The Kremlin NATO would be forced to respond if Putin resorts to using chemical weapons.
“We would respond,” Biden said, in response to a question about what Nato would do. “We would respond if he uses it. The nature of the response would depend on the nature of the use.”