New NATO chief Mark Rutte visits Ukraine in his first trip since taking office

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — New NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte visited Ukraine on Thursday in his first official trip since taking office and pledging the alliance's continued support for Kyiv in its war with Russia.

Rutte met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv as air raid sirens twice went off in the Ukrainian capital.

The new head of NATO vowed when he took office on Tuesday to help shore up Western support for Ukraine, which has been fighting Russia’s full-scale invasion since February 2022 and has for most of this year been on the defensive due to a relentless Russian army push in the country's eastern regions.

Rutte expressed confidence that he can work with whomever is elected president of the United States, the alliance’s most powerful member, in November. That could be a key moment for Ukraine’s effort to ensure continuing Western support.

Zelenskyy said he discussed with Rutte elements of Ukraine's so-called victory plan, ahead of a NATO meeting at the Ramstein Air Base in Germany next week. The gathering draws together defense leaders from the 50-plus partner nations who regularly meet to coordinate weapons aid for the war.

The two also discussed the battlefield situation and the specific needs of Ukrainian military units. Zelenskyy reiterated that Ukraine needs more armaments, including long-range weapons it has long requested.

Asked whether the war in the Middle East will affect the timeline he had envisioned for the victory plan, Zelenskyy noted that the U.S. and Britain say Iran has supplied missiles and drones to Russia for use against Ukraine.

He also appealed for Western countries to scrap restrictions on Ukraine’s use of Western-supplied long-range weapons to strike deep inside Russia.

“Of course, we want Ukraine to not be forgotten. But the best way not to forget about Ukraine is to provide the appropriate weapons and the necessary permissions,” Zelenskyy said. “And to help shoot down ... the same Iranian missiles or drones, just as they are shot down over Israel, to shoot them down in the same way over Ukraine.”

Rutte reiterated the alliance's unwavering support for Ukraine, insisting that “Ukraine is closer to NATO than ever before.”

He said recent steps taken by NATO “build a bridge to NATO membership” for Ukraine, including 40 billion euros ($44 billion) of funding assistance, bilateral security agreements between allies, and the formation of a new NATO command to coordinate assistance and training.

Rutte arrived after a Russian glide bomb struck a five-story apartment block in Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, injuring at least 12 people, including a 3-year-old girl, local officials said Thursday.

The bomb hit between the third and fourth floors of the building on Wednesday night, igniting a fire, Kharkiv regional Gov. Oleh Syniehubov said. Firefighters searched for survivors through smoke and rubble.

The city of Kharkiv, around 30 kilometers (18 miles) from the Russian border, has been a frequent target of aerial attacks throughout the war against Russia that is now deep into its third year.

Increasingly common in the war, glide bombs have terrorized civilians and bludgeoned the Ukrainian army’s front-line defenses. Ukraine has no effective countermeasure for glide bombs, which are launched from Russian aircraft inside Russia.

They were a key weapon in Russia’s capture of the tactically significant town of Vuhledar on Wednesday, as Russian forces wreak destruction on the eastern Donetsk region and force weary Ukrainian troops to withdraw from obliterated towns and villages.

Zelenskyy, at a news conference with Rutte, said it was right for Ukraine to pull its forces out of Vuhledar so that they could live to fight another day. Earlier, he said the latest Kharkiv attack highlighted the urgent need for increased support from Ukraine’s Western allies.

Zelensky recently held talks with officials in the U.S. in an effort to ensure further Western military support.

Russia has had the battlefield initiative since late last year, when a Ukrainian counteroffensive petered out. Ukraine is grappling with a critical manpower problem on the front line and is straining to hold back Russia’s grinding assaults.

Though Russia’s battlefield gains have been incremental, its steady forward movement is adding up as the Ukrainians are pushed backward and yield ground.

Both sides have kept up regular cross-border aerial attacks, usually at night.

Ukraine’s air force said Thursday that 78 out of 105 Shahed drones launched by Russia overnight were destroyed on Thursday as 15 regions of the country came under attack.

The Russian military, meanwhile, intercepted 113 Ukrainian drones overnight, according to a statement by the Defense Ministry in Moscow. The drones were destroyed over four Russian regions on the border with Ukraine — Belgorod, Bryansk, Kursk and Voronezh, it said.

Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, right, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy walk in a corridor before a press conference in Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday Oct. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaks to journalists during a joint press conference with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte in Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday Oct. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, left, and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte walk in a corridor ahead of a press conference in Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday Oct. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, left, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speak in a corridor ahead of a press conference in Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday Oct. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, left, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy leave the hall after a joint press conference in Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday Oct. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutteleft, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, right, speak to journalists during press conference in Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, Oct. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, left, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, right, shake hands during press conference in Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, Oct. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

A view of the damage after a Russian strike on a residential building in Kharkiv, Ukraine, late Wednesday Oct. 2, 2024. (Ukrainian National Police via AP)

Rescue workers clear the rubble of a building damaged by a Russian airstrike in Kharkiv, Ukraine, Wednesday Oct. 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Yevhen Titov)

People gather around the damage and debris after a Russian strike on a residential building in Kharkiv, Ukraine, late Wednesday Oct. 2, 2024. (Ukrainian National Police via AP)

Rescue workers clear the rubble inside a building damaged by a Russian airstrike in Kharkiv, Ukraine, Thursday Oct. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Yevhen Titov)

Rescue workers clear the rubble inside a building damaged by a Russian airstrike in Kharkiv, Ukraine, Thursday Oct. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Yevhen Titov)

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Federal agents carrying out immigration arrests in Minnesota's Twin Cities region already shaken by the fatal shooting of a woman rammed the door of one home Sunday and pushed their way inside, part of what the Department of Homeland Security has called its largest enforcement operation ever.

In a dramatic scene similar to those playing out across Minneapolis, agents captured a man in the home just minutes after pepper spraying protesters outside who had confronted the heavily armed federal agents. Along the residential street, protesters honked car horns, banged on drums and blew whistles in attempts to disrupt the operation.

Video of the clash taken by The Associated Press showed some agents pushing back protesters while a distraught woman later emerged from the house with a document that federal agents presented to arrest the man. Signed by an immigration officer, the document — unlike a warrant signed by a judge — does not authorize forced entry into a private residence. A warrant signed by an immigration officer only authorizes arrest in a public area.

Immigrant advocacy groups have conducted extensive “know-your-rights” campaigns urging people not to open their doors unless agents have a court order signed by a judge.

But within minutes of ramming the door in a neighborhood filled with single-family homes, the handcuffed man was led away.

More than 2,000 immigration arrests have been made in Minnesota since the enforcement operation began at the beginning of December, said Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem told Fox News on Sunday that the administration would send additional federal agents to Minnesota to protect immigration officers and continue enforcement.

The Twin Cities — the latest target in President Donald Trump’s immigration enforcement campaign — is bracing for what is next after 37-year-old Renee Good was shot and killed by an immigration officer on Wednesday.

“We’re seeing a lot of immigration enforcement across Minneapolis and across the state, federal agents just swarming around our neighborhoods,” said Jason Chavez, a Minneapolis city councilmember. “They’ve definitely been out here.”

Chavez, the son of Mexican immigrants who represents an area with a growing immigrant population, said he is closely monitoring information from chat groups about where residents are seeing agents operating.

People holding whistles positioned themselves in freezing temperatures on street corners Sunday in the neighborhood where Good was killed, watching for any signs of federal agents.

More than 20,000 people have taken part in a variety of trainings to become “observers” of enforcement activities in Minnesota since the 2024 election, said Luis Argueta, a spokesperson for Unidos MN, a local human rights organization .

“It’s a role that people choose to take on voluntarily, because they choose to look out for their neighbors,” Argueta said.

The protests have been largely peaceful, but residents remained anxious. On Monday, Minneapolis public schools will start offering remote learning for the next month in response to concerns that children might feel unsafe venturing out while tensions remain high.

Many schools closed last week after Good’s shooting and the upheaval that followed.

While the enforcement activity continues, two of the state’s leading Democrats said that the investigation into Good's shooting death should not be overseen solely by the federal government.

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and U.S. Sen. Tina Smith said in separate interviews Sunday that state authorities should be included in the investigation because the federal government has already made clear what it believes happened.

“How can we trust the federal government to do an objective, unbiased investigation, without prejudice, when at the beginning of that investigation they have already announced exactly what they saw — what they think happened," Smith said on ABC’s "This Week."

The Trump administration has defended the officer who shot Good in her car, saying he was protecting himself and fellow agents and that Good had “weaponized” her vehicle.

Todd Lyons, acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, defended the officer on Fox News Channel’s “The Sunday Briefing.”

"That law enforcement officer had milliseconds, if not short time to make a decision to save his life and his other fellow agents,” he said.

Lyons also said the administration’s enforcement operations in Minnesota wouldn't be needed “if local jurisdictions worked with us to turn over these criminally illegal aliens once they are already considered a public safety threat by the locals.”

The killing of Good by an ICE officer and the shooting of two people by federal agents in Portland, Oregon, led to dozens of protests in cities across the country over the weekend, including New York, Los Angeles, Washington D.C. and Oakland, California.

Contributing were Associated Press journalists Giovanna Dell’Orto in Minneapolis; Thomas Strong in Washington; Bill Barrow in Atlanta; Christopher Weber in Los Angeles; and John Seewer in Toledo, Ohio.

A woman gets into an altercation with a federal immigration officer as officers make an arrest Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)

A federal immigration officer deploys pepper spray as officers make an arrest Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)

A family member, center, reacts after federal immigration officers make an arrest Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)

Bystanders are treated after being pepper sprayed as federal immigration officers make an arrest Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)

A family member reacts after federal immigration officers make an arrest Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)

Federal agents look on after detaining a person during a patrol in Minneapolis, Minn., Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (Christopher Katsarov/The Canadian Press via AP)

Bystanders react after a man was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents during a traffic stop, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Robbinsdale, Minn. (AP Photo/John Locher)

People stand near a memorial at the site where Renee Good was fatally shot by an ICE agent, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Jen Golbeck)

A man looks out of a car window after being detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents during a traffic stop, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Robbinsdale, Minn. (AP Photo/John Locher)

Border Patrol agents detain a man, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Adam Gray)

People shout toward Border Patrol agents making an arrest, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Adam Gray)

Demonstrators protest outside the White House in Washington, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026, against the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent who fatally shot Renee Good in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey holds a news conference on Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Jen Golbeck)

Protesters react as they visit a makeshift memorial during a rally for Renee Good, who was fatally shot by an ICE officer earlier in the week, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)