Rutte: Latest attack confirms that Russia does not seek peace

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte has said in his speech to the Verkhovna Rada on 3 February that Russia's overnight combined attack on Ukraine once again confirms that Moscow is not genuinely committed to real peace negotiations.

In his address, the NATO chief referred to the ongoing negotiation process involving the United States, Russia and Ukraine.

He noted that important progress has been made here, but Russia continues to attack, and this demonstrates their lack of seriousness about peace.

Rutte stated that Western partners would continue to put pressure on Russia and support Ukraine, stressing that Ukraine's friends, like Ukrainians themselves, would not want a second Budapest Memorandum or another Minsk agreement.

He emphasised that NATO stands with Ukraine for years to come and that Ukraine's security is NATO's security.

In his speech, he also noted that 90% of the missiles for Ukraine's air defence had been supplied through the PURL programme, which envisages purchasing American weapons for Ukraine at the expense of other allies.

The NATO secretary general arrived in Kyiv on the morning of 3 February and apparently crossed the border while the attack was still ongoing. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy published a video from Maidan Nezalezhnosti (Independence Square), where they together honoured the memory of fallen Ukrainian defenders.

After the overnight Russian attack, Ukraine's foreign minister called it proof that the Kremlin leader is indifferent both to negotiations and to promises made to Trump.