Rutte urges NATO not to weaken support for Ukraine and to speed up rearmament

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte called on Ukraine's allies on Christmas Eve to continue to provide assistance to Kyiv and to build up their own defence capabilities. According to him, a strong Ukraine is a key condition for deterring Russian aggression and preventing an attack on any of the Alliance's countries. Rutte said this in an interview with DPA, according to The Public with reference to DW.

Rutte recalled the decision of the NATO summit in The Hague in June this year, according to which member states must bring defence spending to 5 per cent of GDP by 2035. He stressed that fulfilling this commitment, together with support for Ukraine, would make the Alliance strong enough to defend itself. According to intelligence estimates, without accelerated rearmament, security risks could increase as early as 2027, 2029 or 2031.

The Secretary General also mentioned Germany, which plans to increase defence spending to 3.5 per cent of GDP by 2029. In 2024, this figure in Germany was 2 per cent of GDP. Rutte emphasised that without Berlin's leadership, strengthening Europe's defence is impossible.

Speaking about the threat from the Kremlin, Rutte noted that Russia spends about 40 per cent of the state budget on military needs. He also drew attention to the scale of human losses that Russia has suffered in the war against Ukraine, according to various estimates, mentioning the figure of up to 1.1 million dead and wounded, which indicates the readiness of the Russian leadership to further escalate.

Commenting on the prospects for peace efforts, Rutte refrained from making predictions, but stressed that Ukraine, European partners and the United States are actively working to find solutions. At the same time, he emphasised that after the war is over, Ukraine needs reliable security guarantees so that Moscow understands the inevitability of a tough response in case of new aggression.

The NATO Secretary General said he had no doubt about the US commitment to the Alliance. According to him, the US national security strategy clearly states the priority of a strong Europe, a strong NATO and close cooperation on both sides of the Atlantic. He also mentioned the Arctic as a region of strategic interest to the United States, whose security can only be guaranteed by joint efforts of the allies.