NATO is a defence alliance and is not looking for conflict with Russia but if it comes to that, it is ready to defend every inch of its territory, US State Secretary Antony Blinken said ahead of a meeting of NATO foreign ministers on Friday.

“Our's is a defensive alliance. We seek no conflict. But if conflict comes to us we are ready for it and we will defend every inch of NATO territory,” Blinken told reporters ahead of a meeting of the alliance's foreign ministers in Brussels, with the foreign ministers of Finland and Sweden also attending.

An extraordinary meeting of EU foreign ministers will also be held on Friday afternoon, and it will be joined by Blinken, the British and Canadian foreign ministers Liz Truss and Melanie Joly respectively, as well as Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba and NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg.

Stoltenberg has said that the attack against the nuclear power plant in Ukraine just demonstrates “the recklessness of this war and the importance of ending it, and the importance of Russia withdrawing all its troops.”