NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte told a press conference on Tuesday ahead of the organization's foreign ministers meeting this week that Ukraine needed to be put in a “strong position” rather than forced into peace negotiations. insisted.
“I would argue that we should stop talking step by step about what a peace process should look like,” Rutte said at the first full group meeting since President-elect Trump's victory.
“We must ensure that Ukraine has what it needs to be in a strong position when peace negotiations begin and the Ukrainian government decides it is ready,” he added.
President Trump has long said he would seek an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine when he returns to the White House.
The contours of the deal remain unclear, but retired Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg, President Trump's pick to be his special envoy for Ukraine and Russia, has laid out a fairly detailed proposal for a ceasefire. Controversially, Kellogg said that further U.S. aid to Ukraine should be conditional on Ukraine's willingness to participate in peace negotiations.
In recent comments, Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskiy outlined several basic demands and concessions for a ceasefire, primarily that NATO protection would be extended to all of Ukraine, which Russia currently occupies. The United States said it would be able to effectively manage the areas in which it is located, sparking speculation about a peace agreement.
In his second month as NATO chief, Dutch politician Rutte said he would continue to advocate for efforts to increase Ukraine's stockpile.
“And what we will be very focused on over the next two days is how do we get more military aid to Ukraine, how do we get more missile defense into Ukraine? “That's what we have to do: better coordinate everything we do, make sure we have command in Wiesbaden, do it as quickly as possible and fulfill our commitments.”
Prime Minister Rutte pledged to ensure stability on the sovereign nation's battlefields ahead of a “critical winter” that is sure to spur further Russian aggression.
“President Putin is not interested in peace. He is pushing for more territory because he thinks he can break Ukraine and our resolve,” Rutte said. “But he is wrong. Ukraine has the right to defend itself, and we have an obligation to help them. Therefore, we must continue to provide our resolute support.”
Rutte previously worked with Trump as prime minister of the Netherlands during Trump's first term. The president-elect and his foreign policy team met with Prime Minister Rutte on November 23 to discuss “various issues” facing the alliance.
President Zelensky's Friday Sky News interview He said Ukraine needed to come under NATO's “umbrella” to end the “hot phase” of the war.
“We need to do it quickly. [occupied] If they are Ukrainian territory, Ukraine can take them back diplomatically,” he said.
Kellogg, President Trump's special war envoy, has criticized arms and money being sent overseas to inflame the Ukrainian front, calling for war rather than funding a “stalemate” instead. It proposes a “formal U.S. policy” to put an end to it.
“That means working with our allies and partners to promote regional security, while requiring our members and allies to do everything in their power to protect regional security,” Kellogg told America First. This was stated in a report by the National Institute for Policy Studies.
