JUST IN: NATO Chief Mark Rutte says we are not ready for what is coming in 4 to 5 years.
— BRICS News (@BRICSinfo) December 12, 2024
"It's time to shift to a wartime mindset." pic.twitter.com/bQg5jeajiw
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They beat the drums of war, it is their aphrodesiac. And their pockets. too bad, jack. Trump iand Putin are talking about...things.
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte is warning that Russian President Vladimir Putin wants to “wipe Ukraine off the map” and could come after other parts of Europe next, as he urged Europeans to press their governments to ramp up defense spending.
“It is time to shift to a wartime mindset,” Rutte told security experts and analysts at the Carnegie Europe think tank in Brussels on Thursday. He said people should gird themselves for the prospect that Russia might try to use “swarms of drones” in Europe as it has to deadly effect in Ukraine
“How many more wake-up calls do we need? We should be profoundly concerned. I know I am,” he said. “Russia is preparing for long-term confrontation. With Ukraine, and with us."
Rutte’s inaugural speech came just over two months after he took office as NATO’s top civilian official. He has since toured the capitals of the 32 allies, including a visit with President-elect Donald Trump in the United States, NATO’s most powerful ally.
NATO has been a staunch backer of Ukraine and has helped most of its members funnel weapons, ammunition and other support into the country. But Trump’s return, and pledge to end the war quickly, has fueled concern that an unfavorable truce might be forced on Ukraine.
Rutte also noted that NATO now has tens of thousands of troops on high readiness should they been needed to defend allied territory.
“With all this, our deterrence is good — for now. But it’s tomorrow I’m worried about,” he said, and warned that “we are not ready for what is coming our way in four to five years. Danger is moving towards us at full speed.”
“What is happening in Ukraine could happen here too, and regardless of the outcome of this war, we will not be safe in the future unless we are prepared to deal with danger,” Rutte added.
Rutte appealed to governments to provide the defense industry with “the big orders and long-term contracts they need to rapidly produce more and better capabilities.” He urged industry to boost production for defenses against drones and other new war tactics.
“If we don’t spend more together now to prevent war, we will pay a much, much, much higher price later to fight it. Not billions, but trillions of euros. That’s if we come out on top, and that’s if we win,” he said.
In Ukraine, fighting around the key eastern city of Pokrovsk, a transit hub, is “extremely intense” after a monthslong Russian push, Ukraine’s top military commander said. Analysts estimate Russian forces are within just a few miles of the city.
“Russian occupiers are throwing all available forces forward, attempting to break through the defenses of our troops,” Ukrainian army chief Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi said in a Facebook post late Wednesday. His forces are outnumbered, he said.
Cook writes for the Associated Press.
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
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