NATO chief warns allies to prepare for possible conflict: ‘We are Russia’s next target'
“Conflict is at our door. Russia has brought war back to Europe,” Mark Rutte said in Berlin.
NATO chief Mark Rutte on Thursday cautioned the alliance's European allies of a possible conflict, while urging them to step up their defence efforts and be prepared.
While flagging his concerns, Rutte warned that the NATO allies could be “Russia's next target”, Reuters news agency reported.
“Conflict is at our door. Russia has brought war back to Europe,” Rutte said in a speech in Berlin. The NATO chief said that the possible conflict could be “on the scale of war our grandparents and great-grandparents endured.”
Rutte further said that several of the allies of the military alliance did not seem to feel the urgency of the Russian threat in Europe. “I fear that too many are quietly complacent. Too many don't feel the urgency,” the NATO chief said.
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He urged the allies to increase their defence spending and ramp up production to prevent a war on the scale the past generations had witnessed, “…Too many believe that time is on our side. It is not. The time for action is now,” Rutte warned.
Rutte further said that Russia could be prepared to use military force against the NATO allies within five years, according to the Reuters report.
The NATO chief said that Russia has, so far this year, launched over 46,000 drones and missiles against Ukraine, the Associated Press reported.
He also highlighted Russia's ties with China, while describing the latter as Moscow's “lifeline” for its war effort in Ukraine. Rutte alleged that China was supplying most of the critical electronic components needed for weapons to Russia. “China wants to prevent its ally from losing in Ukraine,” the NATO chief added.
Rutte had on Thursday joined discussions on US security guarantees to Ukraine, AP reported. The NATO chief was on the call alongside Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner.
