NATO will consider that “permanent peace” has come to Ukraine when Russia never again tries to seize Ukrainian territory.
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte stated this at a press conference after a meeting of foreign ministers of NATO member states, a Babel correspondent reports.
“The shortest answer to your question is a peace in which Putin will never again try to seize even one square kilometer of Ukraine in the future,” Rutte answered journalists’ questions. He added that this would mean that Ukraine is powerful and ready to fight.
When asked if the US is negotiating with Russia, does that mean it does not consider it as threatening as NATO does, Rutte replied: "I am not sure that this is a completely fair assessment of the US administrationʼs position."
"But let me start from the other side. When President Trump came in, the war was not going in the right direction. We saw the front line moving from east to west. And we want the front line to move from west to east. That was not the case. The Russians were moving, albeit slowly. And we know that many people have died or been seriously injured because of this war. We know that some cities have been destroyed, all the infrastructure has been destroyed. So the fact that President Trump came in and said that he wants to end this war and establish a just and lasting peace, I think it is commendable," the NATO Secretary General noted.
Rutte stressed that NATO understands that Russia is a long-term threat — and we should not "be naive" about it, even when the war in Ukraine ends.
According to Rutte, it is important that the Americans try to end the war by working closely with the Ukrainians, and that the Europeans, the French and the British, put forward very practical proposals for the next steps.
"This is how the alliance should function. Working together, trying to achieve results, making sure, recognizing that this is not just a European conflict, that China, North Korea, Iran are involved here, supporting Russiaʼs military efforts. This is a global problem," he stressed.
Rutte added that China is closely monitoring the situation and that if Russia is stopped, it will consider how to act in its region. Rutte is clearly referring to Chinaʼs territorial claims to Taiwan.
Trumpʼs peacemaking efforts
On March 11, another round of talks between Ukraine and the United States took place in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. As a result, Ukraine agreed to an immediate temporary ceasefire — in exchange, Washington decided to resume aid and intelligence sharing. Volodymyr Zelensky said that a 30-day ceasefire would apply to the entire front line if Russia agreed to it.
On March 18, Trump spoke with Putin. They discussed, in particular, the 30-day ceasefire proposed by the United States. Putin demanded that Ukraine stop the mobilization and rearmament of the Armed Forces of Ukraine for this period. After the conversation, the parties reported that Putin allegedly supported the idea of a mutual refusal of the Russian Federation and Ukraine from attacks on energy infrastructure for 30 days.
Trump spoke with Zelensky on March 19. The US president shared with the Ukrainian leader the details of his conversation with Putin. Zelensky said he was ready to support the cessation of strikes on energy and other civilian infrastructure.
The US subsequently agreed with Ukraine and Russia to ban attacks in the Black Sea. However, Russian officials have said that the agreed ceasefire at sea in the Black Sea is contingent on sanctions being eased, contradicting the US statement.
Meanwhile, Russia continues massive attacks on Ukraine and its civilian infrastructure.
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