NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said the alliance is “making sure that Ukraine has what it needs to stay in the fight” ahead of a summit between President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin on Aug. 15.
When President Trump announced direct talks with Putin in Alaska, a big concern was that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was not invited.
The White House and the U.S. ambassador to NATO have said that it’s a possibility and Trump is open to a trilateral summit.
In an interview on CBS’s “Face the Nation” with Margaret Brennan, Rutte affirmed NATO is fully behind Ukraine, even amid concerns about Trump’s refusal to invite Zelensky to the meeting.
“And, as you said, NATO is coordinating all of this through our command in Wiesbaden, making sure that Ukraine has what it needs to stay in the fight and be in the best possible position when it comes to negotiations on a ceasefire [and] a peace deal,” he said.
Moscow shared a ceasefire agreement with the Trump administration, demanding control of Eastern Ukraine in exchange for a halt in the three-year-long war.
Zelensky adamantly opposed the new deal, posting on the social platform X, “Any decisions that are against us, any decisions that are without Ukraine, are at the same time decisions against peace. They will not achieve anything. These are stillborn decisions.”
Rutte also said, however, that next Friday’s meeting could exclude Ukraine until Putin can be trusted and serious negotiations begin.
“What will happen on Friday is testing Putin by President Trump,” he said. “And, obviously, when it comes to peace talks, the ceasefire, and what happens after that on territories, on security guarantees for Ukraine, Ukraine will have to be and will be involved.”
The NATO chief has praised Trump’s work since the beginning of his term to secure a peace deal.
“And I think it is very good that President Trump will test him. And we will see how far he can get on Friday starting this process. He basically broke the deadlock, President Trump, in February, starting the dialogue with Putin. I think that was crucial,” he said.
In February, Trump opened communication with Russia after former President Biden had cut it off, following a strategy of isolating Russia.
Rutte also commended Trump, who signed an executive order on Aug. 6 adding a 25 percent tariff on India’s purchases of Russian oil, bringing the tariffs up to a total of 50 percent. The tariffs are going to be in effect 21 days after Trump signed the executive order.
He also mentioned a 5 percent defense spending agreement that Trump brokered with the rest of the NATO allies in June, as well as the July deal to send more weapons to Ukraine.
“We had a great NATO summit under his leadership, committing to 5 percent defense spending, so that there is a clear signal to our main threat, which is Russia, that we are serious. And then he opened the floodgates three weeks ago of American lethal weapons to be delivered into Ukraine, coordinated by NATO, and, of course, the secondary sanctions,” he said.
