Rutte tells Trump 'bad peace' in Ukraine could embolden US rivals
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte has told U.S. President-elect Donald Trump that Washington would face a "dire threat" from China, Iran, and North Korea if Ukraine is forced to accept an unfavorable peace deal, the Financial Times reported on Dec. 2.
China's President Xi Jinping "might get thoughts about something else in the future if there is not a good deal," Rutte told Trump in an apparent reference to Taiwan, as the NATO chief revealed in an interview with the outlet.
Rutte met the U.S. president-elect in Florida on Nov. 23 amid fears that Trump might scale down the U.S. participation in NATO and its support for Ukraine as it faces Russian aggression.
Speaking to the Financial Times, the NATO chief warned against allowing the leaders of Russia, Iran, and North Korea to celebrate a "deal which is not good for Ukraine" as that would be "a dire security threat not only to Europe but also to the U.S." in the long-term.
Tehran and Pyongyang are Moscow's key allies in its all-out war against Ukraine, providing arms and, in North Korea's case, soldiers to boost Russian forces.
Trump's return to the White House is raising concerns about the stability of Western support for Ukraine, as the president-elect pledged to get the U.S. "out" of the war and bring the conflict to a swift end.
Ukrainian officials have appealed to Trump to maintain his support and adopt a "peace through strength" approach in dealings with Russia.
The details of Trump's peace plan remain unclear, but his pick for a special peace envoy for Ukraine, Keith Kellogg, previously proposed freezing the war along the current front lines and postponing Kyiv's NATO aspirations.
Ukraine hopes to receive a NATO invitation — a step included in its five-step victory plan — during an allied ministerial summit on Dec. 3-4, but media reports suggest that there is a lack of consensus on the matter.
Oleksiy Sorokin
