NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte has issued a stark warning that Europe could face a war on the scale of the World Wars unless member states urgently increase defence spending and production. Speaking in Berlin, Rutte said: 'We are Russia's next target. I fear that too many are quietly complacent. Too many don't feel the urgency, and too many believe that time is on our side. It is not.'
Rutte's comments come amid heightened tensions following a warning from Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, who stated that any future peacekeepers in Ukraine would become 'legitimate targets for the Russian armed forces'. Lavrov accused European nations of 'drumming up the conflict' and 'harbouring fantasies of sending their own military troops to Ukraine as so-called peacekeepers'.
The NATO chief emphasised that the alliance must act as a bloc to defend against the Russian threat, criticising what he sees as a lack of urgency among some allies. He insisted that the US and Europe must align their strategies on Ukraine, noting that 'the US cannot be kept safe without a safe Europe'.
The warnings follow former US President Donald Trump's controversial peace plan, which would require Kyiv to make significant concessions to Russia—a proposal strongly opposed by both Europe and Ukraine.
