NATO Warns Kremlin That If It Disrupts Supply Lines, Allies Helping Ukraine Can Activate Article 5

Photo of NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg in Latvia (Photo via NATO's official website)

JAKARTA - NATO continues to send logistical supplies to Ukraine, which is still facing Russian invasion. If Russia's supply lines were disrupted, it could be a dangerous escalation of the war raging in eastern Europe.

NATO has chosen not to send its troops directly to Ukraine to confront Russia -- to avoid direct conflict. But all NATO militaries have been alerted in member states adjacent to Ukraine.

"Allies are helping Ukraine uphold their right to self-defense, which is enshrined in the UN charter", NATO Secretary-General, Jens Stoltenberg, said after meeting Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Spanish PM Pedro Sanchez in Latvia while visiting NATO bases and training grounds, Wednesday, March 9.

"Russia is the aggressor and Ukraine are defending itself. If there is an attack on any NATO country, NATO territory, it will trigger Article 5", continued Jens Stoltenberg.

Article 5 is the self-defense clause in NATO's founding treaty. There are rules, an attack on one member is an attack on all 30 member states.

"I'm sure President Putin knows this and we remove room for miscalculations, misunderstandings about our commitment to defending every inch of NATO territory", Stoltenberg said.

The United States and its allies, including Canada, have been in a race against time to send weapons and ammunition to Ukraine, which has been under relentless fire from Russian forces for more than two weeks.

Some in the US intelligence community are concerned that Moscow may try to cut off the flow of weapons entering Ukraine, either with airstrikes or with long-range artillery. Weapons coming from the West were dropped off at border countries, such as Poland, and then shipped overland.

"An attack on NATO territory, on NATO forces, on NATO capabilities, that would be an attack on NATO", explains Jens Stoltenberg