NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte has urged allies to accelerate military support for Ukraine, warning that delays in delivering weapons and funding are costing lives.
Speaking at the latest Ukraine Defence Contact Group meeting, Rutte said Ukraine’s war against Russia was directly affecting the wider security environment across NATO and called on countries to increase their contributions.
Rutte said: “Ukraine’s fight shapes the entire Euro-Atlantic security environment. It directly impacts, as we all know, our own security, and as we work on modernising the alliance and building a stronger Europe and a stronger NATO, we must continue to support Ukraine’s security and help them defend from Russia’s brutal attacks.”
He added: “That means supporting Ukraine with the utmost urgency. And here, let me say that delays simply cost human lives.”
Rutte said the level of civilian deaths had reached its highest point since May 2022 and told members of the group that more military assistance was required. He said: “Nations must dig deeper. We do not have a choice, I believe.”
The NATO Secretary General identified air defence, drones and extended-range ammunition as priority requirements for Ukrainian forces. Rutte also said allies were seeing changes in the weapons employed by Russia, including greater use of North Korean missiles and jet-powered attack drones.
He stressed the continuing role of the PURL mechanism, under which NATO allies and partners finance the purchase of American weapons for Ukraine. According to Rutte, around $10 billion had been allocated over the previous year through PURL and US foreign military sales for Ukraine, including $3.5 billion originating from the Ukraine support loan.
He described those figures as evidence of European countries taking on a greater share of the effort to sustain Ukraine. Rutte said continued deliveries were particularly important for maintaining Ukrainian air defences and enabling forces to hold positions on the front line.
This year Ukrainian forces have made significant gains on the battlefield in winter and spring 2026.They launched the Oleksandrivka counteroffensive in spring/summer 2026 that liberated 26 settlements and over 745 square km in Donetsk, Dnipropetrovsk, and Zaporizhia oblasts.
Russian forces, on the other hand, continue struggling to reach, let alone seize, Slovyansk, Kramatorsk, and Druzhkivka — in Ukraine’s heavily defended Fortress Belt. Russian milbloggers claimed on September 9 that the situation in the Lyman direction is increasingly deteriorating for Russia and that Russian forces had to withdraw from unspecified forward positions in the area. Whether they had orders to do so is disputed. About 12,000 N Korean conscripts are deployed behind Russian lines as blocking troops to prevent a disorderly rout. Ukrainian forces recently demonstrated their full control over Svyatohirsk (northwest of Lyman), just days after the war criminal Putin claimed that Russian forces control the settlement.
Russian forces continue suffering significant personnel losses while achieving no battlefield gains. Russian forces have reportedly suffered over 1.5 million personnel casualties thus far in the war. Source :- BBC
Putin’s understanding of the war is severely distorted by the Russian military’s systematic lying, which is emboldening Putin to insist on his maximalist demands. Putin regularly makes absurd and aggrandizing claims of Russian advances on the battlefield to support his narrative of continuous and inevitable Russian military success. However, Russian and OSINT sources have increased reporting about ongoing Ukrainian counterattacks near Lyman in recent days. Source:- IWS
Reuters, well known as the source of much Russian “dezinformatsiya”, is reporting on yet another Trump one hour “very good” telecon where Putin, the liar, put him straight about what he, Trump, needs to do to rapidly bring the war to a close. Apparently all American and European military and financial support needs to be stopped, particularly the provision of anti-ballistic missile technology and more pressure should be applied to Zelenskyy to force him to capitulate.
Trump, the Russian asset, is reported as replying that he wants “improved relations with Russia, particularly on the economic front” Words fail me.