Rutte pointed to Europe's inability to defend itself without the U.S.

European countries will not be able to ensure their own security without Washington's help. NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said this on February 3 at a press conference with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer in Brussels.

"The assumption that NATO can exist without the US is foolish for many reasons. European defense without the United States cannot exist for many reasons," he said.

At the same time, Rutte did not elaborate on the reasons for this state of affairs. Instead, he called the conflict in Ukraine geopolitical and pointed out its significance for the United States.

The Baltic Nine: How NATO is making the region the next "flashpoint" for Russia

Europe prepares to independently contain Russia on the eastern flank of the alliance

On the same day, NATO Secretary General said that the organization will assess the current level of defense spending and added that the new spending target of the bloc's countries will be much higher than 2% of GDP.

Prior to that, on January 21, US President Donald Trump said that he would push for North Atlantic Treaty Organisation member states to increase defense spending to 5% of GDP and spend more than Washington to support Ukraine.