Rutte says focus on Zelenskyy-Putin meeting and security guarantees
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte notes that the West continues negotiations on "security guarantees from Ukraine's friends and partners, the United States, Europe and other countries."
The NATO Secretary General is in Luxembourg on Tuesday, where he met with the country's Prime Minister Luc Frieden and Defense Minister Yuriko Backes, the British ezine The Guardian reports.
According to the publication, appearing at a joint press conference, Rutte thanked US President Donald Trump for "breaking the deadlock" over Ukraine and for convening talks in Washington two weeks ago.
At the same time, Rutte noted that any lasting peace requires a stronger Ukrainian army, but also “security guarantees from Ukraine’s friends and partners, the US, Europe and others,” who are “defining them now; as you know, we are sitting together in many formats, also this week.”
He said the focus was on “two streams” of bringing Zelenskyy and Putin together “to start … discussing how to end the way,” and on agreeing between the Europeans and the US on long-term security guarantees that would prevent Russia from attacking Ukraine ever again.
However, he conceded that “the bad news is we are still at the early stage of all of this.”
“There’s a lot of work going on so that when Ukraine enters into these bilateral talks or trilateral talks, they do so with unbreakable backing, and therefore ensuring that Russia will honour whatever deal is agreed, and will never threaten Ukrainian territory again after the deal,” Rutte stated.