According to the Assistant Secretary-General of NATO Camille Grand on Thursday, NATO wants to contain the escalation in Ukraine and is not waging a war against Russia.

Grand told the BFMTV that "NATO is not at war with Russia and wants to avoid and manage the risks of escalation in this conflict."

Grand expressed the need to help Ukrainians though without being "drawn into this conflict."

Additionally, the Assistant Secretary-General urged Russia to end its military operation in Ukraine.

Days ago, Russia-24 channel confirmed that Russian intelligence had received information that Ukraine was planning to invade the Donbass region in February.

The channel said on the Bysogun program that Kiev had plans to bring NATO forces into Ukraine to allegedly prevent Russia from interfering.

According to a member of the Russian President's Advisory Council, Nikita Mikhalkov, sending weapons to Ukraine over a period of months was aimed at stockpiling them so that NATO forces would later use them.

Mikhalkov concluded that Moscow decided to act proactively and proceeded to carry out its own military operation to thwart the Ukrainian-Atlantic scheme.

Moscow also obtained intelligence that NATO was planning on deploying four military divisions in Ukraine, Al Mayadeen's Moscow correspondent reported Thursday.

Russia had for months been warning of the threat posed against it by NATO's attempts to expand eastward, which happened simultaneously with an increase in NATO military activity along Russia's borders, and batches of lethal weapons being sent to Ukraine, prompting Russia to request security guarantees from the West. Washington failed to provide the guarantees.

The special operation is only targeting Ukrainian military facilities, according to the Russian Defense Ministry, and the civilian population is not at risk.

Russia urges NATO, EU to stop supplying weapons to Ukraine

Russia is calling on NATO and European Union member states to stop providing weapons and lethal arms to Kiev amid Moscow's special military operation in Ukraine.

The reason behind the call, as cited by the Russian Foreign Ministry on Saturday, is the fact that the arms supplies to Kiev pose a threat to civilian aviation in the region.

Ukraine no longer insists on joining NATO, may compromise Lugansk, Donetsk

Ukraine is not interested in NATO membership no longer: While one of the reasons why Moscow launched its military operation against Ukraine is because of Ukraine's constant threat of joining NATO, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he will no longer be pressing for NATO membership for Ukraine, after being left alone in the fight the NATO countries fueled for so long.

Zelensky said he is open to compromise on the status of the two territories - Lugansk and Donetsk - which Putin recognized as independent states just before the authorization of the military operation on February 24. 

Dreams of joining the NATO alliance and joint defense guarantees against the impending "Russian invasion" seemed to evaporate into thin air as soon as Moscow launched its special military operation in Donbass last month.

On his Telegram channel, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky released a video addressing Ukraine, saying "We ended up defending our country alone. Who is ready to fight alongside us? I don’t see anyone." 

Johnson: Ukraine "not NATO conflict and will not become one"

The Ukrainian crisis will not be allowed to expand into a NATO confrontation, according to British Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

Johnson wrote in The New York Times days ago that “this is not a NATO conflict, and it will not become one. No ally has sent combat troops to Ukraine. We have no hostility toward the Russian people, and we have no desire to impugn a great nation and a world power."

In his op-ed, Johnson claimed confidence that his "near-daily conversations" with Ukraine's President were bringing "with some comfort in their hour of need" to Ukrainians. He also lauded US Vice President Joe Biden for "exposing the lie that America’s commitment to Europe is somehow diminished."