Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has warned that if NATO sends peacekeepers to Ukraine amid the Russian invasion, it will lead to a direct military clash between Russian forces and the alliance.

On Wednesday morning, Lavrov said, according to a Russian news agency, that sending NATO peacekeepers to Ukraine would lead to a direct clash between the armed forces of the Russian Federation and the coalition. State news agency TASS.

Russia invades Ukraine: live updates

US Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas Greenfield on Sunday ruled out the possibility of US participation in peacekeeping operations inside Ukraine, saying that the Biden administration would not send US troops into the country.

In this photo released by the press service of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov pauses during a joint press conference between him and Brazilian Foreign Minister Carlos Franca following their talks in Moscow, Russia, on Tuesday, November 30, 2021.
(Press Service of the Russian Foreign Ministry via AP)

“The president has been very clear that we are not going to put US forces on the ground in Ukraine,” he added. Thomas Greenfield said. We do not want to escalate this into a war with the United States.

“But we will support our NATO allies,” she added. Biden “made clear that if there was an attack on any of our NATO allies, under Article 5, we would support those countries and defend those countries.”

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations nominee Linda Thomas Greenfield speaks during the confirmation hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Capitol Hill, Wednesday, Jan. 27, 2021, in Washington. (Greg Nash/Pool via AP)

Polish port onet He reportedly gained access to a secret project in the Polish Ministry of National Defense, aimed at deploying peacekeepers from a number of NATO countries to Ukraine. Warsaw is expected to formally present it at the NATO summit on March 24. The United States will not participate, but may agree to a mission that includes some other countries.

Smashed cars after a nighttime air strike on the village of Bushev, 40 kilometers west of Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, March 4, 2022.
(AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)

Lavrov’s warning indicates that Russia will view the presence of NATO peacekeepers as a military escalation and a reason for war against the alliance.

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The war lasted for about a month as the superior numbers of Russian forces encountered unexpectedly fierce Ukrainian resistance. The battle for the southern port city of Mariupol grew increasingly fierce, while cities such as the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, and its second city, Kharkiv, are effectively under siege. Russia has also targeted cities in the west of the country, not far from the border with Poland, where more than 2 million refugees from Ukraine’s 3 million are reported to have fled.