NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte visited Kyiv on February 3, meeting with President Zelensky and speaking about difficult decisions needed for peace.
NATO Chief: Achieving Peace Will Require Difficult Choices
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte visited Kyiv on Tuesday (February 3) and met with President Volodymyr Zelensky. They jointly paid tribute to Ukrainian soldiers killed on the front. During his speech in the Ukrainian parliament, Rutte stated that achieving peace in Ukraine will require difficult decisions.
He emphasized that Ukraine must be certain that peace will be lasting and that signed documents will be respected by major powers. After concluding a peace agreement, Ukraine will need solid security guarantees in addition to a strong army, according to Rutte. The United States, Europe, and Canada have declared their readiness to provide these guarantees.
Russian Attacks Do Not Indicate Serious Approach to Peace
Mark Rutte noted that Russian attacks, such as those from last night, do not demonstrate a serious approach to peace. After the night’s Russian shelling, hundreds of thousands of people in Kyiv and Kharkiv remain without heating.
Zelensky assessed that this massive attack will impact Wednesday’s Ukrainian-American-Russian peace talks in the United Arab Emirates.
NATO Working on Fast Missile Delivery to Ukraine
Rutte assured that the Alliance is working on the fastest possible delivery of missiles across the Dnieper for defense against Russian ballistic missiles. NATO countries are currently equipping Ukrainian defense with means to counter Russian air attacks.
Within the PURL system since summer, 90% of missiles used in air defense have been from this system. Ukraine needs significantly more missiles, so cooperation with Alliance countries continues to access their stockpiles.
Talks on Peace in Ukraine
The NATO Secretary General visited Kyiv on the eve of a trilateral meeting in the United Arab Emirates, with delegations from Ukraine, the United States, and Russia participating. According to reports, part of the security guarantees is Western countries’ commitment to participate in a military operation if Russia attacks again.
The forces of a “willing coalition” – including EU countries, Turkey, Great Britain, Iceland, and Norway – would participate in such an operation, supported by the United States. According to Kyiv authorities, the main contentious element in the peace talks is Russia’s ultimatum for Ukraine to cede the entire Donbas.
Next week, NATO defense ministers will meet in Brussels, with the war in Ukraine as one of the topics. A meeting of the “contact group for arming Ukraine” has also been planned.