NATO secretary general warns against "peace" at cost of Ukraine's interests

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte has stressed the importance of maintaining and continuing support for Ukraine to give it a chance to begin potential talks with Moscow from a position of strength.

Rutte stressed during a European Parliament committee meeting that the future of European and global security depends on the outcome of the war in Ukraine.

"We all want this war to end, but above all, we want a peace to last. [...] Peace will not last if Putin gets his way in Ukraine, because then he will press ahead," Rutte said.

Rutte noted that if, as a result of an agreement, Russia and its allies feel stronger, such a peace will not be long-lasting, leading to global instability.

"Peace can only last if Ukraine comes to the table from a position of strength. For this, it needs our continued help, more weapons and faster," he added.

"Let's hope that we will get to the point as soon as possible that we have the luxury of discussing the ongoing security guarantees for Ukraine, because that would mean that we have started into talks and that we have moved to the next phase. At this moment, clearly, Ukraine is not there because they cannot, at this moment, negotiate from a position of strength. We have to do more to make sure by changing the trajectory of the conflict," Rutte said. 

He also highlighted the need to increase defence spending among allies to above 2% and joked that if this is not done, we might have to "get out your Russian language courses".

A few days ago, US President-elect Donald Trump said he was already working on organising a meeting with Putin.

In response to a question about his strategy for ending the war, Trump stated that there is only one strategy and it "depends on Putin".