BRUSSELS/WASHINGTON: Nato chief Mark Rutte said on Saturday he told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky that he needs to find a way to restore his relationship with US President Donald Trump after their clash at a White House meeting on Friday.

The confrontation flared over differing visions of how to end Russia’s three-year-old invasion, with Zelensky seeking strong security guarantees from a Trump administration that has embraced diplomacy with Vladimir Putin’s Russia.

The meeting, which Rutte described as “unfortunate”, plunged ties between Kyiv and its top military backer to a new low. “I said: I think you have to find a way, dear Volodymyr, to restore your relationship with Donald Trump and the American administration. That is important going forward,” Rutte told the BBC, commenting on a call he had with Zelensky on Friday.

He said he told Zelensky that “we really have to respect what President Trump has done so far for Ukraine”, reminding Zelensky that Trump was the one who provided Javelin anti-tank weapons to Ukraine in 2019 that had enabled the country’s forces to fight back after Russia’s invasion.

Rubio calls on Ukrainian president to apologise for clash with Trump

“Without the Javelins in 2022, when the full-scale attack started, Ukraine would have been nowhere”, said Rutte. “I told him we really have to give Trump credit for what he did then, what America did since then and also what America is still doing.” Quizzed on some of the accusations traded between the leaders on Friday, the Nato chief declined to comment in detail, saying the US was very invested in the military alliance, including in its mutual-defence clause Article 5.

Rutte called Trump a friend but did not directly address questions about whether Trump was right when he accused Zelensky of gambling with World War Three, or when he said Zelensky either needed to strike a deal or the US would be “out”. “I am absolutely convinced that the US wants to bring Ukraine to this durable peace…And obviously, what they need to get there is to make sure that we’ll all work together on this,” he said.

Asked whether Nato allies would be capable of filling the gaps should the US withdraw its military support from Ukraine, Rutte replied: “Let’s move beyond this question. It is crucial that we stay all in this together — the US, Ukraine, Europe, that we bring Ukraine to a peace, this is exactly what President Trump is fighting for, what we all are fighting for.”

Rubio calls for apology

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio called on Friday for Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky to apologise for an earlier clash with President Donald Trump. Zelensky should “apologize for wasting our time for a meeting that was going to end the way it did,” Rubio said on CNN after Oval Office talks devolved into argument and raised voices. Rubio also questioned whether Zelensky — the president of a country that has endured more than three years of war following Russia’s Feb 2022 invasion — wanted it to end.

Published in Dawn, March 2nd, 2025