Nato has begun discussing the possibility of sending arms to Ukraine, according to the alliance’s secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg.

Mr Stoltenberg said the issue was being actively discussed by alliance members, alongside a range of other measures to bolster support for Kiev.

His remarks follow those of Nato’s top military commander, General Philip Breedlove, who on Friday said that “conventional means” of support from Nato powers should not be ruled out if economic and diplomatic overtures to Moscow failed.

The German chancellor Angela Merkel is opposed to a military solution to the Ukraine crisis although she has warned that peace talks may fail.

Mr Stoltenberg stressed that any move to support Ukraine with weaponry would be a matter for individual Nato allies to decide upon, not the alliance as a whole.

“There are discussions taking place,” he said on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference in Germany, Europe’s largest annual gathering of defence and security chiefs and politicians.

“Nato does not possess weapons so this is at the end something that has to be decided by nations,” he said. “I will limit myself to say that we have an ongoing discussion on how we can help Ukraine and every nation has the right to protect and defend itself.”

British foreign secretary Philip Hammond said sending lethal military aid to Kiev was an option that would be considered by the UK government if fighting in Ukraine got worse.

Mr Hammond stressed that Britain still believed there was no military solution to the conflict in Ukraine but acknowledged discussions about sending lethal military aid to help Kiev had become more pronounced in recent days. The UK was prepared to consider a broad range of future courses of action he said.

“We areatthecurrenttimenotconsideringthesupplyoflethalequipmenttotheUkrainians,”MrHammondsaidat Munich.“But obviously that decision — that policy position — is a reflection of the situation on the ground and if the situation on the ground changes of course we could keep that under review.”

“If there were a radical change of circumstances on the ground we would want to keep our options open, we would want to be able to think about using all the levers we have available to influence the situation on the ground,” he added.

Mr Stoltenberg said the alliance would continue to ramp up its military presence in eastern Europe. Nato defence ministers agreed on Thursday to more than double the size of Nato’s reaction force from 13,000 to 30,000 men and deploy 6 command and control centres in Romania, Bulgaria, Poland and the Baltic States.

Moscow’s ambassador to Nato said relations between Russia and the alliance were “close to freezing point.”

The measures were just the beginning, Mr Stoltenberg said.

“This is the first element. What we decided on Thursday was the land element and command and control. [Next] we will make decisions on naval, air, special forces, reconnaissance intelligence, surveillance — more elements, more decisions are coming. We are doing what we set out to do.”

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