(Reuters) -NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte visited the southern Ukrainian city of Odesa with President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Tuesday and declared “unwavering” support for Ukraine in the aftermath of a deadly Russian attack in the north of the country.
Rutte’s visit came two days after Russian ballistic missile strikes on the city of Sumy on Sunday killed 35 people and wounded more than 100, according to Ukrainian officials.
The trip took place as the United States – NATO’s dominant power – is seeking to broker a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine and it followed fresh criticism of Zelenskiy by U.S. President Donald Trump.
Rutte said the 32-member alliance was still strongly behind Kyiv, even as it also supported Trump’s peace initiative.
“NATO stands with Ukraine,” Rutte said at a press conference with Zelenskiy. “You and I know that this has been true all along. I also know that some have called NATO’s support into question in the last couple of months. But let there be no doubt: Our support is unwavering.”
Rutte said he and Zelenskiy discussed the talks that the Trump administration was holding with both Russia and Ukraine.
“These discussions are not easy – not least in the wake of this horrific violence – but we all support President Trump’s push for peace,” he said.
Trump has accused Zelenskiy of starting the war, which began when Russian forces invaded Ukraine in February 2022. But Rutte said there was “no doubt” Moscow had started the conflict.
“Russia is the aggressor, Russia started this war. There’s no doubt,” he said.
Zelenskiy said the main focus of the talks was strengthening Ukraine’s air defence.
“Absolutely everyone sees how urgent Ukraine’s need is for air defense systems and missiles for them,” he said on X, mentioning Patriot systems, made mainly by U.S. defence companies Raytheon and Lockheed Martin.
“Patriot systems are defensive weapons, and we’re not just asking for Patriots — we are ready to purchase them,” Zelenskiy said.
“This is a purely political matter — the systems are available in the world, the missiles for the Patriots are also available, and whether we will have sufficient protection from Russian ballistic strikes depends entirely on political decisions.”
Zelenskiy and Rutte visited a hospital where Ukrainian soldiers were recovering from their wounds.
Rutte also visited neighbouring Moldova to discuss regional security, President Maia Sandu said.
(Reporting by Bart Meijer, Geert De Clercq, Anastasiia Malenko, Yuliia Dysa and Sabine Siebold; Writing by Andrew Gray;Editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise and Rod Nickel)
