Mark Rutte, the new NATO secretary general, said that Ukraine should put off any peace talks with Russia until Western allies can send enough military aid to help Kyiv push ahead on the battlefield and gain a stronger negotiating position.
With President-elect Donald Trump vowing to secure a quick cease-fire that officials in Kyiv fear would be favorable to Russia and despite war fatigue hanging over parts of Europe — Rutte urged the alliance’s members to step up shipments of weapons, ammunition and air defenses before they try working toward a truce.
“Let’s not have all these discussions, step by step, on what a peace process might look like,” Rutte said, ahead of two days of meetings of foreign ministers at NATO headquarters in Brussels. “Make sure that Ukraine has what it needs to get to a position of strength when those peace talks start.”
President Vladimir Putin of Russia and senior Kremlin officials “intentionally and directly” authorized a program of coerced fostering and adoption of Ukrainian children, a Yale University report found. The report provides strong new evidence for a war crimes case against Putin and other officials, the researchers said.
