NATO's chief avoids talk of Ukraine's membership. He says the priority is helping Kyiv defend itself

BRUSSELS (AP) — NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte on Tuesday sidestepped questions about Ukraine’s possible membership in the military alliance, saying that the priority now must be to strengthen the country’s hand in any future peace talks with Russia by sending it more weapons.

Rutte’s remarks, ahead of a meeting of NATO foreign ministers, came days after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that extending alliance membership to territory now under Kyiv’s control could end “the hot stage" of the almost 3-year war in Ukraine, where Russian forces are pressing deeper into their western neighbor.

“The front is not moving eastwards. It is slowly moving westwards,” Rutte said. “So we have to make sure that Ukraine gets into a position of strength, and then it should be for the Ukrainian government to decide on the next steps, in terms of opening peace talks and how to conduct them.”

At their summit in Washington in July, leaders of the 32 NATO member countries insisted that Ukraine is on an “irreversible” path to membership. But some, led by the United States, have balked at moving forward while the war rages and before the country’s borders are clearly demarcated. All 32 countries must agree unanimously for Ukraine to join.

NATO was founded on the principle that an attack on any ally should be considered an attack on them all, and the alliance has consistently tried to avoid being dragged into a wider war with nuclear-armed Russia.

Zelenskyy argued that once open conflict ends, any proposal to join NATO could be extended to all parts of the country that fall under internationally recognized borders.

Pressed on this by reporters, Rutte said: “I would argue, let’s not have all these discussions step by step on what a peace process might look like.”

The first step, he said, must be to “make sure that Ukraine has what it needs to get to a position of strength when those peace talks start.”

Ukrainian officials made it clear Tuesday they won’t countenance any half measures or stopgap solutions on NATO membership.

The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry issued a strongly worded statement saying Ukraine “will not settle for any alternatives, surrogates or substitutes for Ukraine’s full membership in NATO,” citing its “bitter experience of the Budapest Memorandum.”

Under the international agreement signed in the Hungarian capital 30 years ago, Ukraine agreed to give up its Soviet-era atomic weapons, which amounted to the world’s third-largest nuclear arsenal, in return for security guarantees from Russia, the United States and the United Kingdom.

The Foreign Ministry statement called the Budapest agreement a “monument to short-sightedness in making strategic security decisions.”

“We are convinced that the only real guarantee of security for Ukraine, as well as a deterrent for further Russian aggression against Ukraine and other states, is Ukraine’s full membership in NATO,” it said.

At NATO headquarters in Brussels, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha showed reporters a copy of the Budapest document.

“This document, this paper, failed to secure Ukrainian security and transatlantic security. So we must avoid to repeat such mistakes,” he said in English.

Reflecting on his recent meeting with U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, Rutte said he had underlined that China, North Korea and Iran were weighing in on Russia's side, putting the United States and the Asia-Pacific region at risk.

“Whenever we get to a deal on Ukraine it has to be a good deal, because what we can never have is high-fiving Kim Jong Un and Xi Jinping and whoever else," Rutte said, saying this would only encourage the leaders of North Korea and China to endorse the use of force elsewhere.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Ukraine’s allies must “do what it takes to support their self-defense for as long as it takes,” but acknowledged that the war will end in negotiations and potential compromise.

Starmer said in a speech late Monday that allies must “put Ukraine in the strongest possible position for negotiations so they can secure a just and lasting peace on their terms that guarantees their security, independence — and right to choose their own future.”

Novikov reported from Kyiv, Ukraine. Jill Lawless in London contributed.

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

United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken, left, and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte deliver a statement ahead of a meeting of NATO foreign ministers at NATO headquarters in Brussels,Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, right, shakes hands with United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken during a meeting of NATO foreign ministers at NATO headquarters in Brussels,Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte speaks during a media conference prior to a meeting of NATO foreign ministers at NATO headquarters in Brussels,Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte speaks during a media conference prior to a meeting of NATO foreign ministers at NATO headquarters in Brussels,Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte speaks during a media conference prior to a meeting of NATO foreign ministers at NATO headquarters in Brussels,Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte takes questions during a media conference prior to a meeting of NATO foreign ministers at NATO headquarters in Brussels,Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte speaks during a media conference prior to a meeting of NATO foreign ministers at NATO headquarters in Brussels,Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)

BRUSSELS (AP) — NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte warned on Thursday that a Russian victory over Ukraine would undermine the dissuasive force of the world’s biggest military alliance and that its credibility could cost trillions to restore.

NATO has been ramping up its forces along its eastern flank with Russia, Belarus and Ukraine, deploying thousands of troops and equipment to deter Moscow from expanding its war into the territory of any of the organization’s 32 member countries.

“If Ukraine loses then to restore the deterrence of the rest of NATO again, it will be a much, much higher price than what we are contemplating at this moment in terms of ramping up our spending and ramping up our industrial production,” Rutte said.

“It will not be billions extra; it will be trillions extra,” he said, on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

Rutte insisted that Ukraine’s Western backers must “step up and not scale back the support” they are providing to the country, almost three years after Russia’s full-fledged invasion began.

“We have to change the trajectory of the war,” Rutte said, adding that the West “cannot allow in the 21st century that one country invades another country and tries to colonize it."

"We are beyond those days,” he said.

Anxiety in Europe is mounting that U.S. President Donald Trump might seek to quickly end the war in talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin on terms that are unfavorable to Ukraine, but Rutte appeared wary about trying to do things in a hurry.

“If we got a bad deal, it would only mean that we will see the president of Russia high-fiving with the leaders from North Korea, Iran and China and we cannot accept that,” the former Dutch prime minister said. “That would be geopolitically a big, big mistake.”

Trump’s new envoy for special missions, Richard Grenell, criticized allies who talk of continuing the war but still won’t increase their defense spending to NATO guidelines. He said Americans think it is “outrageous” that the Biden administration refused to talk to Putin.

NATO leaders have agreed that each member country should spend at least 2% of gross domestic product on their military budgets. The alliance estimates that 23 members will reach that level this year, although almost a third will still fall short. Poland and Estonia spend most in GDP terms.

“You cannot ask the American people to expand the umbrella of NATO when the current members aren’t paying their fair share,” Grenell said. The United States spends most within NATO on its own budget, in dollar terms, and allies rely on its military might for their defense.

“When we have leaders who are going to talk about more war, we need to make sure that those leaders are spending the right amount of money,” Grenell said. “We need to be able to avoid war, and that means a credible threat from NATO.”

He also insisted that former President Joe Biden was wrong not to talk to Putin, who was indicted for war crimes in 2023 by the International Criminal Court for the “unlawful deportation” of children from Ukraine to Russia.

“You should be able to talk to people," Grenell said. "Talking is a tactic, and you’re not going to be able to solve problems peacefully unless you actually have conversations,” he said.

Polish Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski welcomed Trump's acknowledgement that it must be Russia which should make the first peace moves, but he cautioned that “this is not the Putin that President Trump knew in his first term.”

On Wednesday, Trump threatened to impose stiff taxes, tariffs and sanctions on Moscow if an agreement isn’t reached to end the war, but that warning will probably fall on deaf ears in the Kremlin. Russia's economy is already weighed down by a multitude of U.S. and European sanctions.

Sikorksi warned that Putin should not be put at the center of the world stage over Ukraine.

“The president of the United States is the leader of the free world. Vladimir Putin is an outcast and an indicted war criminal for stealing Ukrainian children,” Sikorski said.

"I would suggest that Putin has to earn the summit, that if he gets it early, it elevates him beyond his, significance and gives him the wrong idea about the trajectory of this,” he said.

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte arrives at the Annual Meeting of World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Thursday, Jan. 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)

Switzerland's Defense Minister Federal Councillor Viola Amherd, right, shakes hands with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, left, prior to a bilateral meeting on the sideline of the Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2025. (Laurent Gillieron/Keystone via AP)

Switzerland's Defense Minister Federal Councillor Viola Amherd, right, shakes hands with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, left, prior to a bilateral meeting on the sideline of the Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2025. (Laurent Gillieron/Keystone via AP)