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NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte has announced that the decision to be adopted by the leaders of NATO member states at the summit in The Hague will mark the next step in building a “bridge” between Ukraine and the Alliance.
Speaking at the start of his meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in The Hague, Rutte emphasized that all previous pro-Ukrainian decisions of the Alliance — including those made at the 2023 Washington Summit — remain valid, and this will be indirectly reaffirmed in the final communiqué of the current summit.
“There will be an important reference to Ukraine, which builds on the Washington Summit decision confirming Ukraine’s irreversible path to NATO,” Rutte said.
He did not clarify what exactly constitutes that indirect confirmation, but it is known that the summit’s declaration is expected to include a commitment to financing Ukraine’s defense through the defense budgets of NATO member states.
“We are building a bridge between Ukraine and NATO, just as the Washington decision laid out,” Rutte added.
Earlier on Tuesday, Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof also stated that he considers Ukraine part of the Euro-Atlantic family.
Ahead of the summit, Secretary General Rutte had already hinted at what the decision on Ukraine would include.
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