Rutte on security guarantees for Ukraine: There must be no repeat of Budapest and Minsk
Russia’s war against Ukraine must be ended in a way that allows Kyiv to move forward as a sovereign state with security guarantees, and so that Russian dictator Putin never tries to attack again.
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said this at a press conference after a meeting of the Alliance’s defense ministers at NATO headquarters, Censor.NET reports.
US peace efforts
In Rutte’s view, it was US President Donald Trump who broke the deadlock in peace negotiations with Putin in February 2025.
"This was extremely important. And since then, he has consistently advanced the peace process through Marco Rubio, Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff. They are constantly working on this. And I believe this is extremely important. They constantly update us on what they are doing, on the current state of affairs in the peace process, in which they are leading the efforts together with the Russians and Ukrainians," he said.
Security guarantees
- According to the NATO secretary general, "then" there is a discussion about what else Europe can do in the peace process.
"And I think it is perfectly normal to have such a discussion if Europeans are also going to do this... Because we have only one goal, and that goal is to end this war in such a way that Russia never tries to attack again. So the war must be ended in a way that Ukraine can move forward as a sovereign state with security guarantees, so that Putin never tries to attack Ukraine again. That is, so that Budapest and Minsk do not happen again," Rutte stressed.
