NATO defence ministers will hold a meeting at the organization's headquarters in Brussels on October 17-18.

"Over the next two days, NATO Defence Ministers will meet for the first time since the Washington Summit. And we will take forward the implementation of key decisions we made in Washington on: bolstering our deterrence and defence, supporting Ukraine, and deepening our global partnerships," the alliance's new Secretary General, Mark Rutte, said at a press conference on Wednesday.

He noted that this would be the first ministerial meeting that he would chair as NATO Secretary General.

"Since taking office, I have made clear that strengthening our Alliance – deterrence and defence is my top priority. We need to move further and faster to meet the growing threats we face," Rutte said.

In this regard, he stressed the importance of expanded defence industrial capacity, more reliable supply chains and the use of new technologies.

"We have made significant advances over the past two years on the production of munitions, and the manufacturing of new ships, combat vehicles and jets. But we are still not producing enough... Defence investments are critical to defending our one billion citizens... In other words, there cannot be strong defence without strong defence industry. Achieving this requires increased defence spending, firm orders, and they have to be long term," the Secretary General explained his vision for strengthening deterrence and defense.

Speaking about Ukraine, Rutte recalled that when he recently visited Kyiv, he reaffirmed his support for Ukraine "now and into the future."

"We are working – and with urgency – to deliver: a new NATO command to coordinate security assistance and training for Ukraine; more support to build Ukraine’s future forces; a financial pledge of at least 40 billion euros of military aid within a year; and initiatives to support Ukraine on its irreversible path to NATO membership," the head of the alliance reported.

At the same time, he added that "NATO allies committed EUR 20.9 billion for military assistance to Ukraine during the first half of 2024."

Rutte also reported that he visited Wiesbaden, Germany, where he announced the upcoming full entry into force in this city of the new Alliance Security and Training Assistance Command (NSATU) "in the coming months."

In response to questions, the Secretary General of the organization said that Ukraine will certainly become a member of the North Atlantic Alliance, but did not make any assumptions about the timing.

The meeting of the NATO-Ukraine Council, which will be held as part of the ministerial meeting, is expected to include the participation of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov.