NATO Secretary-General Says Some Allies Are Not Contributing Enough to Ukraine

NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte. (Twitter/@SecGenNATO)

NATO allies are not contributing equally to support Ukraine, with some countries failing to contribute enough, NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said on Thursday.

Speaking at a joint press conference with Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, Secretary-General Rutte said support for Ukraine remained uneven across the 32-nation alliance.

"There are a limited number of countries, including Sweden, that have really made a tremendous contribution in terms of support for Ukraine," he said, launching Anadolu (22/5).

Rutte further said Canada, Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark, and Norway were among the countries that made a major contribution, but stressed "many are still not contributing enough," highlighting what he described as a continued imbalance in burden-sharing within NATO.

He said he had proposed that allies commit around 0.25 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) to support related to Ukraine, but acknowledged that the proposal had not received unanimous support from member countries.

"But at least it has started a debate among allies," he said, adding that the discussion is now "intensively ongoing in NATO."

Rutte argued that if allies agree that Ukraine must remain strong and move towards sustainable peace, then support must be distributed more evenly throughout the alliance.

He also reiterated NATO's deterrence posture, saying the alliance's commitment to defend any member country remains "absolute," while warning of a "devastating response" to any attack on NATO territory.

Rutte added that increased defense spending by European allies and Canada helped reduce excessive dependence on one ally, in particular the US, and described the shift as part of a broader effort to strengthen European defense capabilities.

"This is necessary because in the end we cannot rely too much and constantly rely on one ally alone is not a healthy thing," he said.