Russia New NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte visits Kiev

The new NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte visits Ukraine just two days after taking office. The country must continue to be supported in its fight against Russia because "their security is important for our security", he said at a joint press conference with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi in Kiev. Together they discussed the areas in which Ukraine needs further support and the way in which NATO is working to provide this. The Alliance stands by Ukraine's side.

Rutte also emphasized that Ukraine is closer to NATO than ever before. The country would continue on this path until it became a member of NATO. Selenskyj emphasized in a contribution on X that Ukraine's most important goal was to become a fully-fledged member of the alliance.

Former Dutch Prime Minister Rutte took over the post of NATO Secretary General on Tuesday from Norway's Jens Stoltenberg, who had been in office for around ten years. Rutte was chosen by the 32 NATO member states in early summer. He is to hold the top post for at least four years, after which his mandate could be renewed.

Visit sends an important signal

Rutte's visit is an important signal for Kiev. In the past, Rutte's predecessor Stoltenberg persistently campaigned for the greatest possible support for Ukraine with Western weapons systems. Ukraine can hope that Rutte will continue on this course.

Rutte had already made it clear several times before he took office at NATO that he believed Ukraine should be able to use Western weapons systems against Russia without restrictions. During his term of office as Prime Minister of the Netherlands, it was also decided to provide Ukraine with Dutch F-16 fighter jets. Taking economic power into account, the Netherlands was also one of the countries that provided Ukraine with the most military support under his leadership.