NATO Secretary General Meets Trump, Discusses Global Security Amid Ukraine Crisis

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte met with President-elect Donald Trump in Palm Beach, Florida on Friday (local time), a statement by NATO said.

They discussed the range of global security issues facing the Alliance, as per the statement.

The Secretary General and his team also met with Congressperson Mike Waltz and members of the President-elect’s national security team, the statement added.

Earlier on Thursday, the US Mission to NATO declared that it will donate USD 20 billion to Ukraine as a part of the loan G7 has pledged. The US said that they froze Russia’s assets and used those funds for Ukraine’s aid.

In a post on X, US mission to NATO said, “Russia must bear the costs of its illegal war. Of the USD 50 billion that the G7 committed to loan Ukraine back in June, the United States will provide USD 20 billion. But the circumstances around this are unique. Never before has a multilateral coalition frozen the assets of an aggressor country (Russia) and then harnessed the value of those assets to fund the defense of the aggrieved party (Ukraine).”

Earlier on November 18, US President Joe Biden authorised the use of long-range missiles by Ukraine to target the deepest part of Russia, the New York Times reported on Sunday.

The missiles could be used in the Kursk region of western Russia to defend Ukrainian forces against Russian and North Korean offensives, the New York Times quoted US officials as saying.

This comes as President-elect Donald Trump is set to assume charge. In earlier statements, Trump has called to bring an end to the war.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy expressed optimism that US President-elect Donald Trump’s administration could expedite the resolution of the ongoing war with Russia, Anadolu reported.

Zelenskyy made the remarks during an interview with public broadcaster Suspilne, where he reflected on US-Ukraine relations and past discussions with Trump regarding the conflict, which began in 2022.

Addressing whether Trump had urged Ukraine to negotiate with Russia, Zelenskyy clarified, “We are an independent country. And we, during this war, both our people and I, personally, are in negotiations with the United States, with both Trump and Biden, and with European leaders, proved that the ‘sit and listen’ rhetoric doesn’t work with us.”

(WITH ANI INPUTS)

ALSO READ: Deadly Sectarian Violence Erupts In Kurram: 15 Dead, 25 Injured In New Clashes