US remains ‘completely committed’ to Nato says secretary general ahead of Ukraine military aid meeting – Europe live | Europe
Rutte insists US remains committed, confirms Ukraine to be invited to Nato summit
Nato secretary general Mark Rutte has been speaking in Brussels, addressing some of the key issues ahead of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group meeting.
Nato secretary general Mark Rutte delivers remarks during the pre-ministerial press conference at the Nato headquarters, in Brussels. Photograph: John Thys/AFP/Getty Images
Asked about US defense secretary Pete Hegseth’s absence today, he insisted the US remained “completely committed” to Nato and helping Ukraine and that it would be represented at another level.
He added that Hegseth would join Nato talks tomorrow.
US 'completely committed' to Ukraine and Nato, secretary general Rutte says – video
Rutte also confirmed that Ukraine has been invited to the Nato summit in The Hague, the Netherlands, later this month, and promised to reveal more details in due course.
The former Dutch prime minister also spoke about the need for the alliance to adopt more ambitious targets to prepare for new, emerging threats.
“These targets set out what forces and concrete capabilities every ally needs to provide to strengthen our deterrence and defence. Air and missile defence, long-range weapons, logistics, and large land manoeuvre formations are among our top priorities,” he said.
Key events
'No damage' to Crimea bridge after Ukrainian attack, Russia says
Back to that Ukrainian attack on the that links the annexed Crimean peninsula with Russia: the Russian authorities have insisted the blast caused “no damage.”
Ukraine’s SBU security service said on Tuesday it had detonated a bomb on one of the bridge’s underwater pillars, publishing footage of a blast coming out of the water and debris flying.
“There was indeed an explosion,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
“Nothing was damaged. The bridge is working,” he said.
'No plans at the moment' for US to withdraw troops from Europe, Nato's Rutte insists
Nato’s Rutte was also asked about suggestions that the US could withdraw some of its troops from Europe.
He insisted “there are no plans at the moment for the US to withdraw troops,” and repeated that the US “is completely committed to Nato.”
He said:
“They expect European and Canadian allies to spend much more … so we have to increase spending first of all, because we have to reach all those capability targets and close the gaps we still have to make sure that we can also fight the Russians if they try to attack us in three to five years, but also to equalise with the United States.
And I think that is only fair.”
Rutte insists US remains committed, confirms Ukraine to be invited to Nato summit
Nato secretary general Mark Rutte has been speaking in Brussels, addressing some of the key issues ahead of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group meeting.
Nato secretary general Mark Rutte delivers remarks during the pre-ministerial press conference at the Nato headquarters, in Brussels. Photograph: John Thys/AFP/Getty Images
Asked about US defense secretary Pete Hegseth’s absence today, he insisted the US remained “completely committed” to Nato and helping Ukraine and that it would be represented at another level.
He added that Hegseth would join Nato talks tomorrow.
US 'completely committed' to Ukraine and Nato, secretary general Rutte says – video
Rutte also confirmed that Ukraine has been invited to the Nato summit in The Hague, the Netherlands, later this month, and promised to reveal more details in due course.
The former Dutch prime minister also spoke about the need for the alliance to adopt more ambitious targets to prepare for new, emerging threats.
“These targets set out what forces and concrete capabilities every ally needs to provide to strengthen our deterrence and defence. Air and missile defence, long-range weapons, logistics, and large land manoeuvre formations are among our top priorities,” he said.
Britain plans to ramp up delivery of drones to Ukraine
Dan Sabbagh
Britain said it would deliver 100,000 drones to Ukraine in the year from 1 April, a tenfold increase from the previous year, ahead of Wednesday’s meeting in Brussels of the 57 country Ukraine contact group.
Ukrainian serviceman of the 13th operational NGU Khartiia Brigade with the call signs 'Chipok' controls the Vampire drone during test and training flight, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, at an undisclosed location in the Kharkiv region, Ukraine. Photograph: Marko Đurica/Reuters
It is part of a £350m spend on drones by the UK for Ukraine – but while the step change in production is significant, the figure is still significantly below the 4.5m target that Ukraine has for indigenously manufactured drones in 2025.
The UK said it was supplying one-way attack first person view (FPV) drones, simple bombers that can perform repeat missions, and new wired fibre optic drones which have emerged over the past six months, all everyday battlefield weapons.
Though it has taken over three years of war to get to the 100,000 figure, extra increments of supply will help Ukraine in its struggle against Russia. Russia’s own production target is 3m to 4m drones.
Britain also said it would spend a further £247m on training Ukrainian troops as part of Operation Interflex, and that the UK had delivered 140,000 artillery shells so far in 2025, enough to sustain Kyiv for nearly a month on estimated usage rates.
This year, Ukraine has set it expects to receive 3m shells from allies in total, as well as producing around 2.5m shells and mortars indigenously. That compares favourably with an estimate given in April by Nato’s top military commander, Gen Christopher Cavoli, who said he expected Russia to produce 3m shells this year.
Although the British contribution of basic weapons remains a fraction of Ukraine’s total requirements, by 2025 it is approaching militarily significant levels at a time, particularly alongside EU allies, raising the question of whether Russia can keep up.
Morning opening: Ukraine Defence Contact Group
Jakub Krupa
A group of 57 countries, including all members of Nato, helping Ukraine meets todayin Brussels for the latest round of coordination of how to best help Kyiv in its continuing fight against the Russian invasion.
The meeting comes a day after Ukraine detonated a massive underwater blast that “severely damaged” the base of pylons holding up the illegally built Kerch Bridge, which connects the Russian-occupied Crimean peninsula of Ukraine to Russia. The signature project of Vladimir Putin was hit with the equivalent of more than a metric tonne of TNT, said Kyiv’s SBU security service, write Peter Beaumont and Artem Mazhulin.
But, as Reuters noted, in a sign of how far the US has moved in recent months under Donald Trump, officials said US defense secretary PeteHegseth won’t even attend the the Ukraine Defence Contact Group meeting today – even though he is still coming for a Nato ministerial tomorrow.
The focus then shifts to Nato and major European allies, including Germany and the UK. I will keep an eye on this and bring you the key lines from their press conferences this afternoon.
I will also bring you key updates from the developing situation in the German city of Cologne, which sees the largest evacuation since the end of the second world war as it deals with the discovery of three wartime bombs in the city centre, and updates on government crises in the Netherlands and Poland.
Let’s see what the day brings us.
It’s Wednesday, 4 June 2025, it’s Jakub Krupa here, and this is Europe Live.
