NATO chief: Europe ready to foot the bill for US arms for Ukraine
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte has urged the US to continue supplying Ukraine with weapons to fight Russia, saying Europeans will surely pay the bill.
Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Thursday, NATO chief Mark Rutte stated that Europe must ramp up arms production, increase military expenditure and take on a larger share of the costs associated with aiding Ukraine.
"If this new Trump administration is willing to keep on supplying Ukraine from its defense industrial base, the bill will be paid by the Europeans, I'm absolutely convinced of this, we have to be willing to do that," he stressed.
Rutte further emphasized that NATO’s need to increase military spending has pushed the alliance into “crisis mode”, pointing out that “on industry production, we are really in a bad place.”
“On Ukraine, we need the US also to stay involved,” Rutte added. However, he neither put a figure on how much Europe would pay nor did he say whether he had an agreement with European leaders on the matter.
He made the remarks after US President Donald Trump’s assertions earlier this week regarding the necessity for the EU to increase support for Ukraine.
Earlier this month, President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine voiced discontent with NATO, saying “the decisions made in July at the NATO summit in Washington “as well as those adopted during the Ramstein meetings regarding air defenses for Ukraine have still not been fully implemented.”
Late last year, Zelensky disclosed his “constructive exchange” with Trump regarding the issue, signaling a new wave of support for his military.
Trump’s envoy for special missions Richard Gernell participated remotely in the Davos panel that included Rutte, criticizing the NATO secretary general.
“The American people are the ones that are paying for the defense. You cannot ask the American people to expand the umbrella of NATO when the current members aren’t paying their fair share, and that includes the Dutch, who need to step up,” Grenell said.
The talks in Davos happened amid Ukraine’s high hopes to end the war with Russia “sooner” through diplomatic means with the arrival of Trump.
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