Brussels: Europe and the Arabs
NATO headquarters in Brussels announced that the foreign ministers of member states will meet in Antalya, Turkey, in the middle of next month. According to a statement from the alliance, the meeting will be held on May 14 and 15, 2025. The informal meeting of member states will be chaired by NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte. According to Brussels sources, the ministers will discuss several issues, including preparations for the NATO summit scheduled for next June in the Netherlands, as well as the latest developments regarding the situation in Ukraine, in light of ongoing efforts at the international level by NATO member states, including the United States, France, the United Kingdom, and others. This comes just days after statements made by the NATO Secretary General at a joint press conference with the Ukrainian President in Odessa, in which he said, "NATO continues to provide political and practical support to Ukraine through security assistance and training through our command in Wiesbaden. We work closely together in Kyiv and Brussels."
Moreover, NATO allies have pledged more than €20 billion in security assistance to Ukraine this year, during the first three months of 2025 alone.
Our commitment is clear and tangible.
Our support for Ukraine aims to ensure your country's strength and sovereignty, its ability to defend itself today and deter future aggression. All this is to support efforts towards a just and lasting peace. Indeed, we spoke again about the important talks that President Trump is leading with Ukraine and Russia to seek an end to the war and a lasting peace. These discussions are not easy—especially in the wake of this horrific violence—but we all support President Trump's efforts toward peace.
Other allies—including through efforts led by France and the United Kingdom—are ready, willing, and able to take on more responsibility in helping secure peace when the time comes.
So let me say again—to the people of Ukraine, we stand with you.
And we look forward to a day when the brave men and women of this wonderful country can enjoy freedom without fear.
Q: Mr. Witkoff said that the peace agreement we are discussing with Russia, as we understand it, includes about five regions, and there is no NATO, no five-point agreement.
MARK RUTTEE: Let me first commend President Trump for breaking the deadlock and starting these talks on peace in Ukraine. I think this is important because we have seen so many people die, we have seen so many cities destroyed, and infrastructure targeted by the Russians, so I think this is an important effort. I have decided not to comment on all the intermediate stages of this entire process because I do not want to interfere in the peace process. Whatever we do when it comes to assistance here, we do so as discreetly as possible, and I cannot comment on this in the press. I am sorry.
Question to the NATO Secretary General: Do you have anything to say about the latest developments in the naval deployment of the Coalition of the Willing to secure the security situation in the Black Sea?
Mark Rutte: NATO is involved in a number of these discussions. We are, of course, closely following President Trump's initiatives for a ceasefire between Ukraine and Russia, along with our American friends, and we support these efforts. Through our leadership in Wiesbaden, known as the Ukrainian Armed Forces Union (NSATU), we are working with Ukraine. Last week, you received senior French and British officers here in Ukraine to discuss the best formula for organizing the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the future. Of course, this will also help in the fight against the Russians, as well as in the long term. Because, in any case, it will be the first line of deterrence to ensure that the Ukrainian Armed Forces, as the first line of deterrence, are able to defend the country in the long term, in the event of a peace agreement or a ceasefire. There are initiatives underway, and I think you're referring specifically to what the French and British are working on through the Coalition of the Willing. We are also, of course, an integral part of those talks, and we are trying to offer advice as much as possible to steer them in the right direction. I'm very pleased that the French and British have taken this initiative to ensure that when the Ukrainian Armed Forces are, as the first line of defense, after the peace agreement/ceasefire, there may be further measures necessary to ensure that Putin never repeats this. Because no one wants to return to the Minsk situation of 2014, where there is a peace agreement, but it's fundamentally not strong enough, it's incoherent, and Putin is trying to repeat it. And when we come to the end of this horrific war, it must be clear to Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin that he will never attempt to seize a single square kilometer or single square mile of Ukraine. That's why the French, the British, and others are discussing what we need most, in addition to the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the future, to ensure that this guarantee exists. All of this is still under discussion. It will also, in my absolute belief, depend on the precise outcome of a peace/ceasefire agreement, which we hope will be a strong combination of both.
What the precise formula for this agreement will be, how it will work, who will do what, etc. These discussions are ongoing. As we prepare for this hopefully imminent eventuality, I of course hope that NATO will try to steer this in a direction we believe will be advisory.
Mark Rutte: Perhaps I can add one sentence, which is that Turkey has already succeeded in 2022 in reaching a ceasefire agreement on the grain deal, so let's be optimistic about Turkey's renewed efforts to bring all the parties involved together, and we hope that this will be successful.
In response to another question, Mark Rutte said: Yes, they are the aggressors. Let me be absolutely clear. Russia is the aggressor. Russia started this war, there is no doubt about that.