The West should give Ukraine more weapons now to strengthen its hand in possible peace talks, Nato’s chief is urging.
Mark Rutte issued the rallying cry for more military aid for Kyiv ahead of a meeting of the alliance’s foreign ministers in Brussels.
“We will all need to do more,” he said.
“The stronger our military support to Ukraine is now, the stronger their hand will be at the negotiating table.”
But he also cautioned that Vladimir Putin may demand a very high price for the end of his military onslaught in Ukraine even though it has left hundreds of thousands of Russian soldiers dead or wounded.
Mr Rutte added: “Putin is not interested in peace. He is pressing on, trying to take more territory. Because he thinks he can break Ukraine’s resolve and ours, but he is wrong.”
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced on Monday that Washington was sending another weapons package to Ukraine totalling $725 million (£572 million).
The latest aid includes Stinger missiles, ammunition for High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS), drones and land mines.
The Kremlin denounced the move, claiming it showed the outgoing Biden administration was determined to throw oil on the fire of the war in Ukraine to ensure the conflict kept going.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov claimed: “This and other aid packages cannot change the course of events, cannot affect the dynamics on the frontlines.”
Russian forces have gained territory in eastern Ukraine at an accelerating pace in recent months while suffering heavy casualties.
Putin is believed to be seeking to seize as much land as possible before Donald Trump becomes US president in January and seeks a quick end to the conflict which Russia started in February 2022.
The Washington announcement marks a steep uptick in size from President Joe Biden’s recent use of so-called Presidential Drawdown Authority (PDA), which allows the US to draw from current weapons stocks to help allies in an emergency.
Recent PDA announcements have typically ranged from $125 million to $250 million. Biden has an estimated $4 billion to $5 billion in PDA already authorised by Congress that he is expected to use for Ukraine before Trump takes office on January 20.
Britain has led allies in pushing for more powerful weapons to be supplied to Kyiv, including allowing the use of West-supplied long range missiles to be fired into Russia at military targets, which Mr Biden agreed to recently.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Monday pledged €650 million (£540 million) more in aid to Ukraine.
Mr Rutte also stressed that Nato would step up intelligence sharing and improve the protection of critical infrastructure in the face of Russia’s “hostile” acts of sabotage against allies.
“Over the past years, Russia and China have tried to destabilise our nations with acts of sabotage, cyber-attacks, disinformation and energy blackmail to intimidate us,” he stressed.
“NATO allies will continue to stand together to face these threats through a range of measures, including greater intelligence sharing and better protection of critical infrastructure.”
Britain’s new cyber security chief was warning that the UK needs to wake up to Russia’s online “aggression and recklessness” and the risks posed by “highly sophisticated” Chinese hackers.
In his first major speech, Richard Horne, head of GCHQ’s National Cyber Security Centre, was highlighting the “widening gap” between the threats facing the UK, from both state-backed hackers and online criminals, and the defences in place to protect businesses and public services.
