NATO committed to supporting Ukraine against Russia

26/6/2025 6:20

The whole of NATO,

including the United States, is "totally committed" to keeping

Ukraine in the fight against Russia's invasion, alliance

Secretary General Mark Rutte told Reuters in an interview on

Wednesday.



Speaking at the end of a summit of NATO leaders in The

Hague, Rutte also said nobody in NATO was naive about Russia and

all alliance members "have more or less the same assessment" of

Moscow.



U.S. President Donald Trump's more conciliatory stance

towards Russia in his efforts to bring an end to the war in

Ukraine has prompted questions about U.S. commitments to Kyiv.



"The whole of NATO, including the United States, is totally

committed to keep Ukraine in the fight, to make sure that if

there is a peace deal, that peace deal - or the ceasefire - will

be lasting, will be durable," Rutte said.



He said the clear direction of travel was that Europeans

would be responsible for more of the military aid to Ukraine.



But he said the United States would still be "very much

involved with intelligence-sharing, with also practical military

support" including potentially air defence systems.



"I think there will still be a huge, big American

involvement," Rutte said.



The Trump administration has also told Europeans that they

must take over primary responsibility for their own security,

rather than relying on the United States through NATO.



Rutte said this process would be possible as Europeans

had committed to spending more on defence, and it would be

"well-organised" to avoid any gaps that Russia could exploit.



"I've had these discussions in Washington over the last

couple of months," he said.



"For years, the U.S. has said 'we have to pivot more towards

Asia'. Now that the Europeans are stepping up, that also makes

it possible," he said.



"You will see that what the U.S. is delivering to NATO in

terms of capabilities will gradually come down. But there's also

total clarity from the U.S. that they don't want any capability

gaps to emerge in Europe," Rutte said.