NATO Secretary General pre-ministerial press conference at Foreign Ministers Meeting, 02 DEC 2025

Pre-ministerial press conference by NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte ahead of the meetings of NATO Ministers of Foreign Affairs, 2 December 2025. 🗣 | NATO Secretary General: Good afternoon, and it's good to see you all here in the press theater. Tomorrow, NATO Foreign Ministers will meet here at NATO Headquarters, and we have much to discuss. As we look ahead to the next NATO Summit in Ankara in July, Allies will address the evolving threats to our security. They will review the action taken to strengthen our deterrence and defence, and we will also meet in the NATO Ukraine Council with Foreign Minister Sybiha, along with the EU High Representative Kallas. As we begin to look ahead to our next Summit in Türkiye, we will examine the evolving threats and challenges to our security - including from Russia - and how we are progressing on the crucial decisions leaders made in The Hague. Allies agreed to invest 5% of GDP on defence. Including 3.5% on core defence spending. In support of men and women of our armed forces, as well as to provide all they need to protect us - aircraft, tanks, ships and drones as well as cyber and space capabilities. That commitment to invest more in our security was a major leap which recognized our changing reality. And since then, we have made meaningful progress. Each week I see new announcements from Allies working to boost their capabilities. But this is only the beginning of a long road, and we cannot be complacent. We must build momentum and hold each other accountable as we work to keep our 1 billion citizens safe. Increasing our investment is only truly effective if supply matches demand, and that's why we are also rapidly scaling up production capacity. Across NATO, Allies are working hand-in-hand with industry to ensure we are producing what we need and innovating to ensure we stay ahead of the curve. This is a win win for our societies, bolstering our security and our prosperity and also creating jobs on both sides of the Atlantic. Turning to Ukraine, we all recognize that our security is deeply linked, and we are all working to bring the war against Ukraine to an end with a just and lasting peace. We welcome the ongoing efforts led by the United States to make this a reality, and I am confident that these sustained efforts will eventually restore peace in Europe. At tomorrow's working lunch of the NATO Ukraine Council, we will be joined, as I said, by Ukraine's Minister of Foreign Affairs, Andrii Sybiha, and the EU's High Representative Kaja Kallas. As we work for peace, we cannot lose sight of Russia's increasingly brutal attacks against Ukraine. Russia is systematically targeting civilian infrastructure, depriving Ukrainians of heat and light at the start of winter. Russia is not alone in this war, as China continues to be its decisive enabler and Iran and North Korea also provides support. Since the earliest days of Russia's full-scale invasion, Allies have shown unwavering commitment to Ukraine. In recent months, European and Canadian Allies have provided billions of dollars of essential US equipment to Ukraine through PURL. This support is an important part of our ongoing efforts to ensure Ukraine has what it needs to defend today and deter future aggression. And still, there is more we must do. I expect Allies to announce new contributions in the coming days. So, it's clear that we have a challenging agenda ahead. But Allies have shown that they are already willing and able to work together to ensure we can tackle the challenges effectively keeping our 1 billion people safe today and into the future. And with that, I'm ready to take your questions. ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ SUBSCRIBE to this channel https://bit.ly/NATOsubscribe SUBSCRIBE to NATO News https://bit.ly/NATONewsSubscribe SUBSCRIBE to NATO History https://bit.ly/NATOHistorySubscribe Connect with NATO online: Visit the Official NATO Homepage: https://bit.ly/NATOhomepage Receive NATO updates via email: https://bit.ly/NATOemails Find NATO on FACEBOOK: https://bit.ly/NATOfacebook Follow @NATO on X/TWITTER: https://bit.ly/NATOtwitter Follow NATO on Instagram: https://bit.ly/NATOinstagram Find NATO on LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/NATOlinkedin Find NATO on Flickr: https://bit.ly/NATOflickr #NATO #OTAN #ForMin #Ukraine #russia #geopolitics #ukrainewar #DefenseSpending #EuropeSecurity #TransatlanticAlliance #UkraineSupport #NATOMeeting #GlobalSecurity #RussiaUkraineWar