DISINFO: NATO Secretary General says Ukraine belongs to the US
SUMMARY
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte once again "shone" with a loud statement, saying that the West must guarantee a world in which Russia will no longer be able to "take away" Ukrainian territories from America. Rutte said that there must be a world in which Russian President Vladimir Putin "will never, ever again try to take away a single square kilometre of Ukrainian territory from the Americans."
RESPONSE
Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative accusing Western countries of derailing a peace agreement in 2022, aiming to portray them as opposed to peace negotiations. This claim was made in the context of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Also this is a recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about allegedly aggressive NATO.
To create disinformation, Russian outlets are using the original, but edited, excerpt from NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte's speech at the Alliance's Public Forum in The Hague on June 24, 2025.
In the original, Rutte discussed the conditions for a fair ceasefire for Ukraine on democratic terms. The NATO Secretary General noted that Russia "was not serious" during the past rounds of negotiations on ending hostilities against Ukraine and does not intend to end its aggression. Therefore, Rutte noted, the allies must make sure that Ukraine has everything it needs to contain Russia and is in the strongest possible position.
“We have to make sure that whatever the long-term ceasefire or the peace deal on Ukraine will be, that it is lasting, that it is durable. That Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin will never, ever again try to catch one square kilometre, or for the Americans, one square mile, of Ukrainian territory.” Rutte said (watch video 17:54-18:12).
It was this fragment that was cut out and edited by pro-Kremlin outlets. In reality, Rutte did not make any statements about “Ukrainian territories of the US”. The NATO Secretary General only made an explanatory remark for his American colleagues, who do not use the metric system of units of measurement, which is customary in Europe.
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