The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) has been activated as a defensive measure in response to Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine.

The NATO Response Force (NRF) is a highly ready and technologically advanced multinational force of land, air, maritime, and Special Operations Forces (SOF). These components are an alliance that can deploy quickly, wherever needed.

Reports also state the activation of the response troops does NOT mean that any U.S. or NATO troops will go into Ukraine, which is not a member. President Joe Biden made it clear that U.S. troops are deploying to Eastern Europe to help bolster NATO countries. However, they will not be fighting in Ukraine.

Six hours ago they held an Extraordinary Virtual Summit with the head of all NATO countries to:

Discuss the gravest threat to Euro-Atlantic security in decades. We condemn in the strongest possible terms Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, enabled by Belarus. We call on Russia to immediately cease its military assault, to withdraw all its forces from Ukraine and to turn back from the path of aggression it has chosen. This long-planned attack on Ukraine, an independent, peaceful and democratic country, is brutal and wholly unprovoked and unjustified. We deplore the tragic loss of life, enormous human suffering and destruction caused by Russia’s actions. Peace on the European continent has been fundamentally shattered. The world will hold Russia, as well as Belarus, accountable for their actions. We call on all states to condemn this unconscionable attack unreservedly. No one should be fooled by the Russian government’s barrage of lies. with the head of all NATO countries.

It continues:

In light of Russia’s actions, we will draw all the necessary consequences for NATO’s deterrence and defence posture. Allies have held consultations under Article 4 of the Washington Treaty. We will continue to take all measures and decisions required to ensure the security and defence of all Allies. We have deployed defensive land and air forces in the eastern part of the Alliance, and maritime assets across the NATO area. We have activated NATO’s defence plans to prepare ourselves to respond to a range of contingencies and secure Alliance territory, including by drawing on our response forces. We are now making significant additional defensive deployments of forces to the eastern part of the Alliance. We will make all deployments necessary to ensure strong and credible deterrence and defence across the Alliance, now and in the future. Our measures are and remain preventive, proportionate and non-escalatory.

Our commitment to Article 5 of the Washington Treaty is iron-clad. We stand united to protect and defend all Allies. Freedom will always win over oppression.

Ukraine is not a member of NATO.

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????️ Press conference following the extraordinary virtual summit of #NATO Heads of State and Government

????@NATO HQ, Brussels | #NATOSummit https://t.co/nSOdJ3bqZR

— Jens Stoltenberg (@jensstoltenberg) February 25, 2022

In a video released NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg says, “We will do what it takes to protect and defend every #NATO Ally.”

We will do what it takes to protect and defend every #NATO Ally@jensstoltenberg

???? Full statement: https://t.co/uR4RaDurI8 pic.twitter.com/MPkobuD39h

— NATO (@NATO) February 25, 2022

According to NATO’s website:

The NRF has the overarching purpose of being able to provide a rapid military response to an emerging crisis, whether for collective defence purposes or for other crisis-response operations.

The NRF gives the Alliance the means to respond swiftly to various types of crises anywhere in the world. It is also a driving engine for NATO’s military transformation.

@cbsnews #Ukraine President Zelensky says a full-scale attack on #Kyiv could happen #news #Russia ♬ original sound – cbsnews

CNN:

NATO Supreme Allied Commander Gen. Tod Wolters activated the multinational force consisting of land, air, sea and special operations forces from the allies that can deploy quickly in support of the NATO alliance.

The activation of the response troops does not mean that any US or NATO troops will go into Ukraine, which is not a member. US President Joe Biden has been clear that US troops are deploying to eastern Europe to help bolster NATO countries nervous about Russia’s aggressive actions, and they will not be fighting in Ukraine.

“This is an historic moment and the very first time the Alliance has employed these high readiness forces in a deterrence and defense role. They represent a flexible, combat credible force that can be employed in multiple ways and we are utilizing fully their inherent agility,” Wolters said in a statement “These deterrence measures are prudent and enhance our speed, responsiveness and capability to shield and protect the one billion citizens we swore to protect.”

“We were joined today by our close partners Sweden, Finland, and the European Union,” the statement reads. “President Putin has failed in his goal of dividing the West. NATO is as united and resolute as it’s ever been, and NATO will maintain its Open Door to those European states who share our values and who one day may seek to join our Alliance.”

US ???????? F-35s are now contributing to keeping Allied airspace secure.

The F-35 is the most advanced multirole fighter, which combines stealth, sensor fusion and unprecedented situational awareness capabilities. @usairforce pic.twitter.com/l2QBLEUr6I

— NATO JFC Naples (@JFC_Naples) February 25, 2022

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said Friday that the alliance still needed to do more to put pressure on the Kremlin to bring an end to military aggression in Ukraine.

Six @usairforce ???????? F-35s forward deployed to the Baltic and Black Sea regions yesterday to support the enduring @NATO enhanced Air Policing mission. They will operate alongside Allies ???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? already #SecuringtheSkies#WeAreNATO

Read more: https://t.co/YuEMVEhS6c pic.twitter.com/zHzctwXWZY

— NATO Air Command (@NATO_AIRCOM) February 25, 2022

“We must stand ready to do more, even if it means we have to pay the price, because we are in this for the long haul,” he said. “We have to take this seriously, and that’s exactly why we are now deploying the NATO response force for the first time in a collective defense context,” he said.

The entire NATO Response Force is 40,000 troops but Stoltenberg did not say how many would be activated, telling reporters “we are deployment elements” of the force.

Despite this, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a message Friday morning:

“We are alone in defending our country. Who is ready to defend us together with us? Honestly, I don’t see any. Who is ready to give Ukraine a guarantee of joining NATO? Honestly, everyone is afraid.”

Zelensky tweeted that he and Biden discussed “strengthening sanctions, concrete defense assistance and an antiwar coalition,” adding that he was grateful for Washington’s support. Putin has not disclosed his ultimate plans for Ukraine. Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov gave a hint, saying “We want to allow the Ukrainian people to determine its own fate.”

Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia recognizes Zelensky as the president, but would not say how long the Russian military operation could last.

Ukrainian soldiers take position on a bridge inside the city of Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, Feb. 25, 2022. Russia pressed its invasion of Ukraine to the outskirts of the capital Friday after unleashing airstrikes on cities and military bases and sending in troops and tanks from three sides in an attack that could rewrite the global post-Cold War security order. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

The White House said that Biden spoke by phone on Friday with Zelensky, who posted a video showing he’s still in Kyiv. Biden’s statement said the US President “conveyed ongoing economic, humanitarian, and security support being provided by the United States.”

Pentagon press secretary John Kirby told reporters Friday that the US is “going to provide additional security assistance” to Ukraine, though how it will be done, he noted, was “still being worked out.”

@cbsnews #Ukraine President Zelensky said “the enemy has marked me as target No. 1” #news #Russia ♬ original sound – cbsnews

NATO is primarily concerned with five member nations that share borders with Russia: Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Poland, and Turkey.

Putin’s dark rhetoric about a government led by a Jewish president, Volodymyr Zelensky, who was elected in a landslide in 2019, is plainly delusional, but it was echoed that night on the state television channels that give him a stranglehold over Russia’s airwaves.

In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Presidential Press Office, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy delivers his speech addressing the nation in Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, Feb. 25, 2022. Russian troops bore down on Ukraine’s capital Friday, with explosions and gunfire sounding in the city as the invasion of a democratic country fueled fears of wider war in Europe and triggered new international efforts — including direct sanctions on President Vladimir Putin — to make Moscow stop. (Ukrainian Presidential Press Office via AP)

Zelensky, a former actor who played an unlikely president in a hit television comedy before becoming one in real life, responded to Putin’s address, and to Russian disinformation that he had fled the country, in a defiant video selfie posted on Telegram, the Russian messaging app. The brief message was quickly viewed more than 4 million times there and went viral on Twitter, where it racked up more than 15 million views.