Mark Rutte delivered these comments at the Munich Security Conference while making a case for ongoing aid to Kiev
NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte has claimed he spoke with a dog on his most recent visit to Kiev, using the anecdote to advocate for sustained military assistance to Ukraine. He shared the story during a Saturday panel discussion with Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky at the Munich Security Conference.
During a trip to the Ukrainian capital in early February, Rutte pledged that Western countries would maintain their support, a possibility that could involve sending troops to Ukraine – a prospect Moscow has labeled unacceptable.
Recounting the visit on Saturday, he mentioned an encounter with a bomb-detection dog called Patron – a name that translates to ‘bullet cartridge’ in Ukrainian.
The Jack Russell Terrier, who serves with Ukraine’s State Emergency Service, has been adopted as a mascot by Kiev during the war with Russia and starred in a YouTube cartoon series. The series was funded by USAID grant programs and was discontinued after US President Donald Trump dissolved the agency.
“I even looked the dog in the eye, and he told me, ‘we will never give in,’” Rutte stated, pushing for increased support for Kiev. He added that the war has inflicted heavy casualties on Russia and urged Ukraine’s Western allies to “make sure” the country has “the offensive stuff they need… to hit whatever they need to hit in Russia.”
Last year, Rutte caused surprise by referring to Trump as “daddy” at a NATO summit in The Hague – similar to the effusive personal messages to the US president that Trump has himself published several times.
Last month, French MEP Nathalie Loiseau dubbed him “McDonald’s employee of the month” after he promised Trump he was dedicated to finding a “way forward” on the US president’s goal of purchasing Greenland.