NATO leader will meet with Trump and other top officials in Washington this week
The secretary-general of NATO, Mark Rutte, will visit Washington this week to meet with President Donald Trump, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and members of Congress, NATO said in a statement Sunday.
The statement did not give a reason for the trip. But the announcement of the two-day visit, which begins Monday, comes days after Trump indicated he would likely go along with a plan devised by officials in NATO countries that would see them buy weapons for Ukraine from the United States, rather than the United States continuing to give Ukraine weapons directly.
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“We’re sending weapons to NATO, and NATO is paying for those weapons, 100%,” Trump told NBC News on Thursday. “So what we’re doing is, the weapons that are going out are going to NATO, and then NATO is going to be giving those weapons” to Ukraine, he said.
The plan was developed after Trump won the presidential election in November to help ensure that Ukraine could continue to fight Russian bombardment even if Trump were to pull U.S. support, according to a European defense official familiar with the discussions.
The details of the agreement were still being worked out, defense officials in Europe and Washington said last week.
“Earlier today I urged leaders to go further so Ukraine has more ammunition & air defences,” Rutte said on social media Thursday. “I’ve just spoken with President Trump & am now working closely with Allies to get Ukraine the help they need.”
Sens. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., are among the senators who will have dinner with Rutte in Washington on Monday, Graham told “Face the Nation” on Sunday. He and Blumenthal are the cosponsors of a bill, which Trump has said he was “very strongly” considering supporting, that would impose severe sanctions on countries that purchase Russian oil as Russia’s bombardment of Ukraine continues to escalate.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
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