NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said Tuesday that the alliance shouldn’t be talking about what a peace process would look like for Ukraine but should instead be focused on sending more weapons to the country.
Ahead of the start of a two-day NATO foreign ministers meeting in Brussels, Rutte was asked about potential offers to help bring an end to the war and said, “I would argue, let’s not have all these discussions step by step on what a peace process might look like. Make sure that Ukraine has what it needs to get to a position of strength when those peace talks start, when the Ukrainian government has decided they are ready to do so.”
Rutte said the meetings of NATO foreign ministers will be focused on how to get more weapons to Ukraine. “So I would say more military aid and less discussions on what a peace process could look like,” he said.
Rutte’s comments align with the Biden administration’s plans to pour as many weapons as they can into Ukraine before President-elect Donald Trump, who campaigned on ending the war, is inaugurated on January 20, 2025. In recent weeks, President Biden has signed off on significant escalations, including NATO-supported long-range strikes in Russia and the provision of widely banned anti-personnel mines.
Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky recently suggested that he could temporarily cede territory to Russia in exchange for NATO protection over Ukraine, which marks a shift in his previous position that the war could only end once Russia is driven out by force. But the new suggestion is still a non-starter for Moscow since Russia’s main demand has been Ukrainian neutrality and it won’t accept an arrangement that gives Ukraine NATO membership.
