Mark Rutte warns allies to start ramping up preparations "for the scale of war our grandparents or great-grandparents endured".

Former Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billström said after the Ukraine war, Europe must be ready for further Russian aggression.

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte warned Thursday that members of the alliance could be “Russia’s next target,” calling for a rapid rise in defense spending to prevent a war similar to those seen by past generations.

The Kremlin said on Sunday that NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte's remarks about preparing for war with Russia were irresponsible and showed that he did not really understand the devastation wrought by World War Two.

Estonia has started constructing concrete bunkers along its border with Russia as nations on NATO’s eastern flank rushes to build up land defenses. The Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania signed an agreement in January 2024 to beef up protection along their land borders with Russia and Moscow’s key ally, Belarus.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has expressed willingness to drop Ukraine's NATO aspirations in exchange for Western security guarantees. But he rejected the U.S. push for ceding territory to Russia.

Secretary-General Mark Rutte chastised some allies for moving too slowly when it comes to ramping up defense spending.

In a speech in Berlin, Rutte said too many allies of the military alliance did not feel the urgency of Russia's threat in Europe and that they must rapidly increase defence spending and production to prevent a war on the scale of that seen by past generations.

As Georgia balances its aspirations to join NATO against mounting pressure from the Russian Federation, a new security partnership is taking shape in the South Caucasus.