Germany rejects no-fly zone, could lead to NATO-Russia confrontation

The NATO meeting following Tuesday's blast was not based on the article 4 of the alliance's founding treaty, under which members can bring any issue of concern for discussion, a foreign ministry spokesperson said.

Establishing a no-fly zone would pose a threat of direct confrontation between Russia and NATO, a German government spokesperson said, after a missile blast in Poland near the Ukrainian border killed two people on Tuesday. The spokesperson rejected this and said, "Together with all our allies we are agreed that we want to avoid a further escalation of this war in Ukraine."

Berlin will offer support to the Polish air defence, a spokesperson for the defence ministry said at a regular news conference on Wednesday. The NATO meeting following Tuesday's blast was not based on the article 4 of the alliance's founding treaty, under which members can bring any issue of concern for discussion, a foreign ministry spokesperson said.