His visit is seen as an important signal: the new NATO chief Rutte met with President Zelensky shortly after taking office. Rutte promised further military aid – but he also had to listen to accusations.
Just a few days after taking office, the new man at the head of NATO traveled to Ukraine. The country must continue to be supported in its fight against Russia because “their security is important for our security,” said Secretary General Mark Rutte at a joint press conference with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kiev.
The Secretary General assured that NATO countries want to continue to provide Ukraine with the military assistance it “needs to survive.” The alliance is on their side. Rutte also emphasized that Ukraine is closer to NATO than ever before. The country will continue on this path until it becomes a member of NATO. With recent measures, the military alliance is building a bridge to such membership.
Zelensky criticizes NATO countries' hesitation
President Zelensky said he discussed elements of his so-called victory plan with the Dutchman, which will also be the subject of a Ukraine meeting at Germany's Ramstein air base next week. Zelensky emphasized in a post on X that Ukraine's most important goal is to become a full member of the alliance.
Zelensky continued that he would like the allies to shoot down Iranian missiles and drones in Ukraine as they did in Israel. He said that to counter Russian attacks, the Ukrainian armed forces needed more long-range missiles. However, he complained that the Western partners were “prolonging” the delivery.
The president also reiterated his demand that Western weapons supplied to Ukraine be allowed to be used against targets deep within Russian territory. Zelenskyj has been urging the USA and Great Britain to do this for months. So far, the USA and countries such as Germany have only granted such approval in a narrowly limited area around the Kharkiv region in eastern Ukraine.
F-16 fighter jets from the Netherlands
Former Dutch Prime Minister Rutte took over the post of NATO Secretary General on Tuesday from Norwegian Jens Stoltenberg, who had been in office for around ten years. When he took office, Rutte emphasized that, like his predecessor, he was firmly on Ukraine's side in its defense against the Russian war of aggression. His visit is therefore an important signal for Kyiv.
Before he took office at NATO, Rutte had made it clear several times that, in his view, Ukraine should be able to use Western weapons systems against Russia without restrictions. During his term as Prime Minister of the Netherlands, it was also decided to provide Ukraine with Dutch F-16 fighter jets. Taking into account its economic strength, the Netherlands under his leadership was also one of the countries that provided the most military support to Ukraine.
