NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte has called on the United States to continue supplying Ukraine with weapons to fight Putin’s invasion and expressed confidence that Europe is ready to pick up the tab.
Mark Rutte said this on Thursday, January 23, speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos. The NATO chief said that Europe should invest more in defense, increase arms production and take a larger share of the costs of helping Ukraine.
“As far as Ukraine is concerned, we also need the United States to stay involved,” Rutte said. “If this new Trump administration wants to continue to supply Ukraine from its defense industrial base, the Europeans will pay the bill, I am absolutely convinced of that, we should be ready to do so.”
The NATO Secretary General supported the US President in saying that Europe should pay more to help Ukraine win the war, as “It is a world war, yes, but still Ukraine is closer to Europe than to the United States.” Rutte explained that if the US continues to supply weapons to Ukraine, “then it is only fair that Europe, in terms of the financial burden of these supplies, will pay the biggest burden.”
He did not give a figure for how much Europe would pay, nor did he say whether he had received agreement from European leaders on this issue.
During the panel discussion, Rutte explained that it is important that Russia does not win, as this could lead to Russian dictator Putin “high-fiving” his counterparts in North Korea and China.
“We really need to step up, not reduce, our support for Ukraine,” says Rutte, ”The front line is moving in the wrong direction”.
