NATO Secretary General Rutte:
Russia is not doing well in Ukraine. Every minute we spend on this is exactly what Putin loves us to do -- being rattled and talking about, "Oh, what’s happening here? What’s happening there?" Calm.…
Assessment
Rutte is trying to refocus NATO's attention away from internal hand-wringing about the war's trajectory and back onto sustained support for Ukraine. His blunt assessment that Russia is not doing well directly counters any narrative that the situation is deteriorating for Kyiv. The real risk he identifies is not a Russian breakthrough on the battlefield, but a loss of Western nerve and a distraction into self-doubt. Watch whether member states actually follow his instruction to keep investing or let the rattling he describes slow their commitments.