Europe and America must together address the challenges of rearmament, said NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte today at the plenary session of the Defense Industry Forum at the NATO summit. Rutte added that the alliance must win "this new war of production" against Russia, Reuters reported, quoted by BTA.
"Today, NATO's military superiority is aggressively challenged by a rapidly rearming Russia, supported by Chinese technology and armed with Iranian and North Korean weapons. We need to unite, innovate and deliver, and that is exactly what this forum is about," he told reporters ahead of a two-day NATO summit in The Hague.
"Only a united Europe and North America can meet the challenge of rearmament," Rutte added.
Defence Europe has finally woken up in the wake of Russia's war in Ukraine, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said today, adding that Europe must continue to make efforts in innovation and financing.
"The whole of Europe is facing a changing international landscape, as has just been rightly noted. The security architecture we have relied on for decades can no longer be taken for granted. This is a tectonic shift that happens once in a generation. But in recent months, Europe has taken action. Actions that seemed unthinkable just a year ago," she told reporters ahead of a two-day NATO summit.
"Tomorrow, the leaders' forum will set new, truly historic spending targets for NATO allies," Von der Leyen said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, for his part, called on NATO allies to increase their investment in Ukrainian defense production and take action to limit foreign components that Russia uses to make weapons.