LIVE: NATO Chief Mark Rutte Speaks at Defence Ministers' Meet | N18G

Good morning all of you and welcome to this meeting of NATO defense ministers. Today we will address how we are further strengthening and adapting our deterrence and defense, and of course continuing our support for Ukraine. We are already seeing significant increases in allied defense spending. Investment is up by tens of billions, and we will review progress on the 5% defense investment commitment agreed in The Hague last year.

We will discuss enhancing our defense posture that includes integrated air and missile defense, strengthening our command and control, improving our readiness, as well as our ability to deploy and sustain forces through host nation support. We will also take stock of our work to enhance the defense industrial base across all allies to ensure that our militaries have the capabilities they need to keep our people safe.

All this is essential for our shared security across the alliance, from the south to the high north and Arctic, the east to the west. NATO is always on duty to deter and defend. This is why we have launched Arctic Sentry, given Russia's increased military activity and China's growing interest in the high north.

We will discuss our support for Ukraine as the United States continues to drive efforts to bring the war to a just and lasting end. Russia continues to pursue civilian targets, including energy infrastructure. It is still essential that allies continue to step up support, including through NATO's PURL initiative. It is ensuring that essential US equipment is delivered to Ukraine, paid for by allies and partners.

This afternoon we will hold the meeting of the NATO-Ukraine Council. We will be joined by Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov to brief us on the situation and on Ukraine's needs, as well as the office of the EU High Representative, as we work closely with the European Union on Ukraine and of course on so many other issues. Ukraine's security is linked with our own. We must ensure that when this war ends, Russia will never try again to invade Ukraine. This concludes the public part of our meeting. I want to thank the media for joining us, which means could you please leave the room.

There is only one country, the most powerful nation on earth, the US, which can do that under the leadership of President Trump, breaking with Putin, getting the peace process going. So I really think the US is doing exactly what we need when it comes to Ukraine.

What I discussed with Europe, our partners in Canada, and the United States is that we have to defend the Arctic. This is Greenland, but also the whole Arctic. And the good news I think yesterday is with the launch of Arctic Sentry that we will now bring together all the assets which we have currently available in the Arctic, getting the whole picture, getting NORAD involved, US NORTHCOM involved, so European allies all together defend the Arctic against the opening up of sea lanes, Russia increasingly active, and also China.

NATO is so strong that we can do both, and we have to basically have a 360-degree approach to any threat against NATO territory. Eastern Sentry makes sure that our eastern flank is secure and strong, and we have seen the drone incursions in Poland in early September. We have seen what happened in Estonia a couple of weeks later in September with the MiG from Russia into Estonian airspace. So we have to make sure that we defend every inch of allied territory. So Eastern Sentry is important. Baltic Sentry makes sure that we protect the undersea cables and critical infrastructure. But of course also the Arctic—this is Greenland, but also the rest of the Arctic: Norway, Finland, Sweden, Denmark through Greenland, Iceland, Canada, and the US, focusing of course primarily on the area where our Supreme Allied Commander is working.