NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte is expecting new pressure from US President-elect Donald Trump about the comparatively low defence spending of European allies including Germany. "He will want us to do more,

NATO head Mark Rutte warned the US-led transatlantic alliance on Thursday that it was not ready for the threats it would face from Russia in the coming years and called for a shift to a wartime mindset - with much higher defense spending.

"We’re as close as we’ve been to war with Russia since the Second World War [and] we announce a half billion cut in our conventional defence. It was the lack of conventional defence that encouraged Putin to invade Ukraine in the first place", he said.

New NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte warned Europe Thursday that Russia's Vladimir Putin wants to "wipe Ukraine off the map" and might come for other parts of Europe next. "It is time to shift to a wartime mindset," Rutte said at the Carnegie Europe think tank in Brussels, in his first major speech since taking NATO's helm in October.

Governments need to make more orders and defense contractors have to take more risks, NATO’s secretary-general said.

NATO's secretary-general Mark Rutte has said he wants to discuss ways to put Ukraine in a position of strength for any future peace talks with Russia.

“Russia is preparing for long-term confrontation ... He insisted that Ukraine must be involved in any peace talks. NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte speaks during a media conference at the conclusion of a meeting of NATO foreign ministers at NATO ...

NATO Chief Mark Rutte expressed concern of potential peace negotiations in the nearly three-year-long Russia-Ukraine war taking place without President Vladimir Putin “at the table,”

Russian President Vladimir Putin said he was ready and willing to meet with President-elect Trump if he “wants it” after four years without communication. “What can I offer to the President-elect

NATO’s secretary-general says 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.