NATO Chief: “Clear Convergence” On Priorities For Ukraine Peace Talks
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said on Thursday that there was a “clear convergence” on the alliance’s priorities for support of Ukraine, following the Ukraine Defense Contact Group meeting a day before.
In a joint speech with United States Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth at NATO headquarters in Brussels ahead of the NATO Defense Ministers’ Meeting, Rutte said the alliance was converging on three priorities for Ukraine peace talks. “One, we need peace in Ukraine. Two, we have to make sure that Ukraine is in a position of strength. And three, as you Pete said yesterday, we can never, ever, ever again have a Minsk Three situation where a peace is not durable.”
Rutte issued his own call for NATO members to increase their defense spending, “because we know we cannot protect ourselves four or five years from now if we don’t.” “It’s only fair. It’s only sensible,” said Rutte.
In his speech, Hegseth said that the Trump administration’s approach to NATO would make the alliance “more relevant and more robust than ever”. He claimed that the meeting would see “realistic, straightforward and honest” discussion, reiterating his belief that a strong NATO would “defend the free world” and allowing the United States to retain its leadership role.
During a doorstep appearance prior to the joint speech, Rutte declined to directly respond to a question about Hegseth’s comments yesterday that Ukraine regaining its pre-2014 borders and NATO membership was an unlikely outcome of peace negotiations:
“I believe we have to make sure that we concentrate on the big issues. And the one big issue, number one, is to make sure that when talks start, that Ukraine is in a position, that Putin knows he has to come to the table, it is for him crucial to come to a deal on Ukraine. So Ukraine has to be in a strong position.
And again, as I said before, it is crucial that when a deal is struck, that that deal will not unravel. We have seen in 2014 what happened with Minsk. We thought that deal was there to stay. It didn’t. Putin simply continued, trying to grab pieces of Ukraine. And then in 2022 he started the full onslaught, late February 2022. We can never, ever have that again. So I’m absolutely pro peace. I’m pro peace talks, absolutely. But at the same time, we have to make sure that what comes out of those talks is there to stay, and that Ukraine then is safe.”