NATO Chief Rutte Tells Zelensky To 'Restore' Relationship With Trump

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky (L) and Mark Rutte shake hands during a visit to the Eindhoven Military Air Base, in Eindhoven, on August 20, 2023.

NATO’s Secretary General Mark Rutte issued a blunt warning to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky following his tense Oval Office exchange with President Donald Trump, saying that the Ukrainian leader must make amends.

During remarks to the BBC on Saturday about a call with Zelensky the day before, Rutte said Trump is due credit for the support he gave Ukraine during his first administration.

“I said: I think you have to find a way, dear Volodymyr, to restore your relationship with Donald Trump and the American administration. That is important going forward,” he said to the Ukrainian president on a phone call.

On the call, Rutte went on to remind Zelensky that “we really have to respect what President Trump has done so far for Ukraine.”

“Without the Javelins in 2022, when the full-scale attack started, Ukraine would have been nowhere,” Rutte said during the BBC interview. “I told him we really have to give Trump credit for what he did then, what America did since then and also what America is still doing.”

Rutte called Friday’s heated exchange between the two leaders “unfortunate.

According to the Daily Mail, the United States has spent at least $100 billion on military aid to Ukraine.

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