Rutte warns Trump of 'dire threat' to U.S. if Ukraine pushed into bad peace deal

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte has warned U.S. President-elect Donald Trump that the United States will face a "dire threat" from China, Iran and North Korea if Ukraine is pushed into signing a peace deal on terms favorable to Moscow.

Rutte said this in an interview with the Financial Times, Ukrinform reports.

"We cannot have a situation where we have [North Korean leader] Kim Jong Un and the Russian leader and Xi Jinping and Iran high-fiving because we came to a deal which is not good for Ukraine, because long-term that will be a dire security threat not only to Europe but also to the U.S.," Rutte said.

Rutte said he stressed this during a meeting with Trump in Florida on November 22, trying to convince him to maintain interaction with Western allies and continue U.S. support for Ukraine.

"So the fact that Iran, North Korea, China and Russia are working so closely together…  [means] these various parts of the world where conflict is, and have to be managed by politicians, are more and more getting connected," Rutte said.

"And there is one Xi Jinping watching very carefully what comes out of this," Rutte added, apparently referring to the threat of escalation in Taiwan.

According to Rutte, increasing military support for Ukraine ahead of any potential peace talks is more important than the debate about when to offer Ukraine NATO membership.

"The most important thing now is to make sure that whenever [Ukrainian President Volodymyr] Zelensky decides to get into peace talks, that he can do this from a position of strength. That for me is now priority number one," he said.