NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte has arrived in Kyiv on a surprise visit following recent deadly Russian strikes on Ukraine. NATO and Ukrainian officials confirmed the visit on Wednesday. Rutte is due to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Zelensky has long been seeking more help from NATO member states to protect the country from Russian ballistic-missile attacks.
A NATO spokesperson said Rutte arrived in Kyiv with ambassadors of the alliance’s member states. Earlier, Ukraine’s state railway operator Ukrzaliznytsia had published a photo of his arrival on social media. “We welcome NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte,” the company wrote in a post, later describing the visit as an important message of NATO’s solidarity with and support for Ukraine. The post was, however, deleted afterwards.
Rutte’s visit came at a time when Ukrainian drone strikes had damaged several energy and military installations in the northern Russian city of St Petersburg, where Russian officials and foreign guests were gathering for an important economic forum. Separately, at least 23 people were killed on Tuesday in Russian missile and drone strikes on Kyiv and the eastern city of Dnipro. Ukraine says it needs more advanced air-defence systems to counter Russian ballistic missiles, and President Zelensky has in particular been urging NATO members to increase supplies of the US-made Patriot missile-defence system and its munitions.
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