Rutte from Ukraine mission HQ: Russia’s threats will not intimidate NATO

NATO will not give in to Russian threats, but will continue to stand firmly behind Kyiv, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said on Monday, the 14th of October, during his first visit to the alliance’s Ukraine mission in Wiesbaden, which has taken over the coordination of military assistance from the US, reports Reuters.
“The message (to Russian President Vladimir Putin) is that we will continue, we will do whatever it takes to make sure that he does not get his way, that Ukraine wins,” he said.
Rutte was speaking at Clay Barracks, the US base where the headquarters of the new mission, called NATO Security Assistance and Training Mission for Ukraine (NSATU), which will gradually take over the coordination of Western military assistance to Kyiv, is located.
The transfer of military aid coordination to NATO is seen as a security measure against a possible NATO-sceptic Donald Trump presidency, but diplomats admit that its impact may be limited, as the US is NATO’s dominant power and the main arms supplier to Ukraine anyway.
Speaking from one of the tents where NSATU is deployed, Rutte addressed soldiers from more than a dozen countries already working on the mission. Later, the mission will move to a nearby hangar, which is being built and will be staffed by Ukrainian soldiers too.
The total strength of NSATU is expected to be around 700, including troops stationed at the NATO military headquarters SHAPE in Belgium and at logistic centres in Poland and Romania.
The Wiesbaden base also hosts the US unit responsible for long-range missiles, which Washington will temporarily deploy in Germany from 2026 to counter what both countries have described as the threat posed by Russian missiles deployed as far as Kaliningrad, some 500 kilometres from Berlin.
On his first visit to Germany as NATO chief, Rutte welcomed the move, which was condemned as a provocation by Russia.
Rutte said it was essential that NATO had all the capabilities it needed to counter the Russian threat.
“We are NATO. We are a defensive alliance, not an offensive one. We are not interested in taking any part of a country outside NATO territory,” he said.
“As a democratic alliance, the strongest military alliance in the history of the world, serving one billion people, we are ready to face any threat. Our adversaries will never intimidate us.”