NATO secretary general to visit Kyiv and address Ukrainian parliament on 3 February

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte is planning a visit to Kyiv and is also set to address the Verkhovna Rada (Ukrainian parliament) on 3 February.

The 15th session of the Verkhovna Rada will open on Tuesday 3 February. The agenda includes, among other things, an address by Rutte.

"Tomorrow, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte will speak in the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine," Ukrainian MP Oleksii Honcharenko wrote.

"There will be the opening, an address by the NATO secretary general and a number of procedural matters,"  Ukrainian MP Yaroslav Zhelezniak noted.

There has been no official announcement that Rutte will visit the Ukrainian capital.

On 26 January, Rutte urged the EU to move away from the "buy European" rule in arms procurement for Ukraine.

He also called on EU countries that "are sitting on large piles of interceptors" to transfer these missiles to Ukraine.