NATO’s Mark Rutte Warns Putin Amid Escalating Ukraine Conflict | WORLD NEWS

Added: 2026-05-23

[00:00:00]I first saw what Sweden's total defense concept is all about.

[00:00:06]military and civilian conscripts training together to provide search and rescue emergency care the transport of wounded civilians, drone detection to name only a few elements.

[00:00:20]We also saw a close cooperation between public authorities, emergency services, the armed forces and also the private sector. It was and it is very impressive and this is what I believe resilience looks like.

[00:00:36]is exactly what we need in today's security environment.

[00:00:41]Defense is not only about armed forces, it is also about keeping society functioning, protecting people, securing critical infrastructure, maintaining supplies. In short, this is about making sure that every part of society is prepared.

[00:01:00]And Sweden understands very well that security is a whole of society responsibility.

[00:01:07]De Wolf, since joining our lines only two years ago, Sweden has become stronger and Sweden has made NATO stronger with advanced military capabilities, strong defense industry, world class defense technology and as we have seen today deep experience with resilience and total defense.

[00:01:32]Sweden is the framework nation for NATO's forward land forces in Finland and contributing to the forward land forces in Latvia.

[00:01:41]This fur strengthens our eastern flank and our deturance and defense posture in the Nordic region. Sweden's defense industry is a high-tech powerhouse and I welcome your plans to move quickly to increase defense spending to 3.5% of GDP by 2030.

[00:02:01]I know you doing this because today's security environment demand hope of course even more allies follow this accelerated timeles to threats to our society we know I swedens taking Russia's shadow fleet very impressive last night to hear the stories Russia evadess Russia evs finance war of aggression against Ukraine that matters Sweden it matters the Baltic Sea region and it matters for the security of allies that is exactly what NATO is for the security of all allies and letter B no mistake our ability and our resolve to defend every are absolute were anyone to be so foolish as to attack the response would be devastating turning to Ukraine since the start of Russia's full skill invasion Sweden has been a storm supporter of Ukraine. Your military assistance includes tanks, combat vehicles, air defense, advanced weapon systems, ammunition training, and airborne surveillance and control aircraft.

[00:03:33]You are supporting Ukraine's defense industry including through the production of longrange drones and missiles and you are providing direct investment in Ukraine's defense industrial base.

[00:03:46]I want to thank you. I want to thank Sweden for contributions to Ukraine also to Pearl the prioritized Ukraine requirement list ensuring rapid delivery of crucial US equipment and munitions to Ukraine.

[00:04:02]More support is coming through Pearl and I encourage allies to keep contributing to this vital initiative because supporting Ukraine is not charity is investment. in our shared security later today and tomorrow NATO for ministers will meet in Helsingborg indeed this is the first NATO for ministers meeting hosted by Sweden there we will prepare the ground the ankra summit including on defense investment industrial production capabilities and continued support for Ukraine in Ankara we must show that we are making real progress that we are delivering our militaries to det and defend and I know I can count on Sweden to continue leading by example and delivering on its commitments prime minister dearf thank you for the excellent hospitality and for Sweden steadyfast contributions to NATO Thank you so much.

[00:05:16]Thank you so much.

[00:05:17]Thank you.

[00:05:18]Please with that we go over to some questions in group. We can start with TT second from the left here.

[00:05:27]So my name is Cornelia Michaelsen and I represent Sweden's National News Agency TT. You have previously referred to a no surprise agreement with President Trump giving the recent developments when we have seen what some would describe as surprises when it comes to US withdrawals or at least as very sudden how successful do you think that that agreement has been or how can you guarantee that this will not continue and secondly we have also seen some Helsing all having debates we are democracies. love to end 32 of us all about the history of NATO 77 years always debates always discussions but in the end we come to that's the big difference with Russia or China where one person decides what everybody should think by the way they think different things but he thinks the leader that everybody agrees we know it's not true.

[00:06:45]We need to debate that makes it stronger. To your first question, let's zone out a little bit. Europe and Canada have ramped up eh their spending on defense. Eh last year you've seen huge increases in defense spending. The whole of the alliance at 2% committing in the ha to reach the 5% and Sweden now having decided to reach the core defense spending target already by 2030. This is huge and it is necessary because in the end we cannot be overreliant. and keep on having the overreliance on one ally. Uh, it's simply not healthy. Eh, and this is exactly what we agreed with United States that they will stay involved of course with the nuclear umbrella but also conventional but that the Europeans will take more care of their own defense step by step in a way where it will not of course lower the overall dets and defense of NATO. The rotational forces involved in the announcements do not have an impact on NATO's defense plans. The other discussion going on about the US contribution to the NATO force model this is happening for a year. We have a process in place eh this is normal business and and this is exactly what we wanted. Europeans doing more is stronger Europe in a stronger NATO so that the US can pivot more for example towards Asia over time step by step in a structured approach.

[00:08:15]Take the next question from the lady in red Yes.