NATO chief to European allies: Stop complaining about role in Ukraine talks, make concrete proposals

US Senator Graham regrets not building up Ukrainian military to make it 'harder to invade' back in 2014

The NATO secretary general on Saturday called on European countries to make concrete proposals rather than complaining about being excluded from potential talks on Ukraine.

Europe must ensure that Ukraine is in "the best possible position during the peace talks," Mark Rutte told a panel at the Munich Security Conference in Germany.

“And to my European friends, I would say, get into the debate, not by complaining that you might yes or not be at the table, but by coming up with concrete proposals (and) ideas. Ramp up the spending, make sure that the training and the weapons supplies continue, but also come up with concrete ideas; what, for example, could security guarantees look like?” Rutte said.

US Republican Senator Lindsey Graham said, for his part, that NATO “stood the test of time” and is effective because “not one NATO nation has ever been invaded by a nation-state.”

He also expressed regret for the allied countries' policy toward Ukraine in 2014, saying, “We should have integrated our economies with Ukraine to give them hope and have a tripwire so it would not happen again.”

Graham also regretted not building up the Ukrainian military to make it “harder to invade.”

“Because we did not want to deal with provoking Putin. Lessons learned. Do not worry about provoking Putin. Worry about stopping Putin,” the senator stressed.

He urged greater support for the Ukrainian army "to the fullest extent possible," saying, "We would be stupid in the next decade not to create the most lethal Ukrainian army possible as a form of deterrence."

US Democrat Senator Jeanne Shaheen called on allies to increase military production because NATO’s adversaries, “whether it is Vladimir Putin or President Xi in China or North Korea or Iran,” are monitoring the moves and will “calibrate what they do in response to how strong they think” the allies are.