dpa
Brussels
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said on Tuesday he wants members of the Western military alliance to focus more on arming Ukraine than debating possible scenarios for ending the ongoing Russian invasion.
"Ukraine doesn’t need more ideas on what a peace process could look like,” Rutte said, stressing the country’s urgent need for more military aid and missile defence systems.
Instead, should Ukraine enter peace talks with Russia, whenever it decides to do so, they should be able to negotiate from the strongest position possible, Rutte said.
"To get there, it is crucial that more military ai d will be pumped into Ukraine,” the top NATO official said, highlighting recent deliveries from the United States and European countries. The top NATO official spoke at a two-day meeting of the alliance’s foreign ministers in Brussels, focusing on supporting Ukraine’s continuing defence against the full-scale Russian invasion.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha attended to brief his NATO counterparts on the current status of the fighting as Ukraine’s eastern front comes under increased pressure from Russian attacks. Sybiha also asked the alliance to supply Ukraine with 19 more air defence systems to better protect energy systems against Russian airstrikes and to avoid blackouts.
Russia has used airstrikes to disable or damage many Ukrainian power stations and substations and has stepped up the attacks as winter approaches.