NATO chief urges more military aid for Ukraine
- 23 January, 12:56
NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte has urged Ukraine’s Western partners to provide further support to the country. Speaking at a panel discussion at the World Economic Forum's meeting in Davos on Thursday, Rutte warned that possible Russian victory over Ukraine would damage NATO’s credibility.
“If Ukraine loses, then to restore the deterrence of the rest of NATO again it will be a much, much higher price than what we are contemplating at this moment in terms of ramping up our spending and ramping up our industrial production,” Rutte said.
The alliance’s chief also voiced support US President Donald Trump’s demand to increase the alliance’s defence budget from 2% to 5% of member countries’ GDP. "I think Donald Trump is right here that we are not spending enough," Rutte said.
US President Donald Trump who was sworn in to historic second term on Monday, has pledged to conclude the war in Ukraine as soon as possible, raising concerns that Kyiv might be forced to make concessions in future peace deal with Russia.
"If we get a bad deal, it would only mean that we will see the president of Russia high-fiving with the leaders from North Korea, Iran and China and we cannot accept that. That would be geopolitically a big, big mistake," Rutte said.
After his inauguration and in an attempt to deliver his pledged about ending the war, Trump on Wednesday set a deadline of 100 days to reach ceasefire in Ukraine.
