NATO leader says he wants to put Ukraine in a position of strength for any peace talks with Russia

BRUSSELS (AP) — NATO’s secretary-general said he wants to discuss ways to put Ukraine in a position of strength for any future peace talks with Russia during a meeting Wednesday with Ukraine’s president and a small number of European leaders.

But Mark Rutte appeared frustrated at growing speculation in NATO capitals about when those peace talks might start and whether European peacekeepers would be involved, saying that speaking publicly about it plays into the hands of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will meet NATO’s top civilian official at his residence in Brussels. European Union leaders are gathering separately for a summit with their Western Balkans counterparts, so Rutte said he wanted to get “a couple of them over” to discuss Ukraine. He didn’t name them.

Rutte said the aim with Zelenskyy is to “discuss everything to do with Ukraine at the moment, and how to make sure that we can do the max to get them into a position of strength to one day, when he decides, start into talks with the Russians on how to end all of this.”

In the talks with leaders of Ukraine’s European backers, Rutte said the focus would be on “what can we do to get more air defense and other weapons into Ukraine, and this is urgently needed.”

Top EU officials will join them to look at ways to further support Ukraine’s war-ravaged economy.

Rutte said the terms of any peace talks should be up to Ukraine, Russia and any others at the negotiating table. “If we now start to discuss amongst ourselves what a deal could look like, we make it so easy for the Russians,” he said.

Zelenskyy posted on Telegram that he would hold talks with the leaders of the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Italy, Denmark, the Netherlands and Poland and U.K. representatives. He’s also due to take part in an EU summit on Thursday.

“Europe needs a strong, united position to ensure lasting peace. Every fundamental issue impacting Europe — and ending Russia’s war against Ukraine is undoubtedly one of them — requires coordinated and effective work by European countries,” Zelenskyy wrote.