If West caves in to Russia on “deal” on war in Ukraine, China will draw conclusions - Rutte

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said this today in Bosnia and Herzegovina, during a meeting with students at the University of Sarajevo, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

“Obviously, that has to be a good deal. Because there is one guy who will, at the end, judge the outcome of all of this. And that is the General Secretary of the Communist Party of China, Xi Jinping. And if he feels that it was Russia coming out on top, and not the West, he will start thinking – hey, that’s an interesting development, what does this mean for my ambitions? And we know his ambitions in the Indo-Pacific. And we know that the U.S. is very worried about it. So we need a good deal – for the Ukrainians and also for the world peace,” said Mark Rutte.

He called President Trump’s efforts to “break the deadlock in Ukraine” a “good” effort.

“President Trump is right – there is no peace deal yet. There is still a working progress. There will be a meeting tomorrow between the Ukrainians and the United States. There has already been a meeting between the United States and the Russians. Here in Europe, people are thinking of what a security guarantee mission could look like, if it is necessary to preserve a ceasefire or a peace deal,” the NATO chief said.

He noted that there are already certain models for providing security guarantees for Ukraine, in particular those worked out in France and the UK.

“Hopefully, we will get there soon,” added Mark Rutte.

As Ukrinform reported, negotiations between Ukraine and the US will be held tomorrow in the city of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. At the meeting, Ukraine will be represented by the Head of the Presidential Office Andriy Yermak, his deputy Pavlo Palisa, Minister for Foreign Affairs Andrii Sybiha, and Defense Minister Rustem Umerov.

Today, President Volodymyr Zelensky arrived in Saudi Arabia.