US says Nato is 'ready for conflict'

BRUSSELS, Belgium

Nato is "ready for a conflict" if needed, the United States Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, has warned.

United States Secretary of State, Antony Blinken

Speaking in Brussels alongside the Nato Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, Mr Blinken said: “Nato is a defensive alliance. We don't want conflict. But if the conflict comes to us, we are ready for it.

"We will protect every inch of Nato territory".

Overnight, the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine was seized by Russian forces after it came under attack earlier in the night. 

The plant was targeted by Russian rockets and gunfire on Thursday, causing a fire onsite and worries over radiation levels. Ukraine's president called the attack an act of "nuclear terrorism".

The plant is Europe’s largest for nuclear power and accounts for 25 per cent of Ukraine's electricity.

Citing Ukrainian officials, Reuters reports the plant is now under Russian control.

In other development, British Foreign Secretary, Liz Truss has said that she is looking at speeding up the process of imposing sanctions on Russian companies and individuals following Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.

The British government has faced criticism for being too slow in implementing sanctions. So far, sanctions have been announced on at least 14 Russians including an asset freeze on President Vladimir Putin.

Asked why Britain was being slower than other countries on sanctions, Ms Truss told reporters: "We've sanctioned more companies than our counterparts across the world, we've just sanctioned two more major oligarchs last night. What I am doing is looking at how we could speed up that process to make even more progress on that front."

Speaking in Brussels, Ms Truss said she was holding various meetings to show "the strength of our unity in challenging Vladimir Putin, in stopping Vladimir Putin, in Ukraine".

"We're doing all we can to support the Ukrainians through defensive weapons, where the UK led - we were the first European country to donate defensive weapons, and we're also going to be talking about sanctions."