NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg once again says that only Ukraine will decide when to sit down at the negotiating table with the Russian Federation, and what result of these negotiations may be acceptable to Kyiv.

In The Hague on Monday, during a visit to the Netherlands at a press conference, answering a question about the possibility for Ukraine to start negotiations with the Russian Federation on the background of successes on the battlefield, Stoltenberg said: “It's for Ukraine to decide what kind of terms that are acceptable for them, is for us to support them and maximize the likelihood for an acceptable outcome. And it is as Minister Ollongren, Kajsa said, that if President Zelensky and Ukrainians stop fighting, then Ukraine will cease to exist as an independent nation. If President Putin and Russia stops fighting, then we'll have peace, so Russia can end this war tomorrow. They started the war and they can end the war by stop invading a neighbour.”

Answering the question of what could be an acceptable outcome of this war for the allies, the Secretary General reiterated that it is Ukraine that must decide “what is an acceptable resolution of this conflict.” “We will not sit here and decide that on behalf of them. Nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine,” Stoltenberg said.

He stressed that NATO allies and partners support Ukraine's right to self-defense. “We have to understand that what Ukraine does is to defend their own country against a war of aggression. And NATO, NATO Allies, we're not party to the conflict, but we support Ukraine in their right for self defence. And the right for self defence is a right enshrined in the UN Charter. And we will not sit in Brussels or in any other NATO capital and decide what is acceptable. What we will do is to maximise the likelihood for Ukrainians to achieve an acceptable resolution around the negotiating table. And the way we do that is to strengthen their hand on the battlefield,” the Secretary General stressed.

Stoltenberg reminded that it is “Russia, President Putin has invaded other country.”

In addition, the Secretary General believes that “President Putin made several big strategic mistakes when he invaded Ukraine.” “One was to underestimate the Ukrainians, the courage, the bravery of Ukrainian armed forces, to political leadership, the Ukrainian people, but the other big mistake he made was to underestimate NATO Allies, partners in our commitment to support Ukraine,” Stoltenberg assured.

At the same time, he expressed conviction that it is “in own interest to ensure that President Putin doesn't win in Ukraine.” “That will be a catastrophe for the Ukrainians. But it will also make the world more dangerous. We will become more vulnerable, because then the lessons learned from the war in Ukraine for President Putin, but also for other authoritarian leaders, is that when they violate international law, when they invade another country, and when they use brutal force, they achieve what they want. And that will make us all more vulnerable. And that's the reason why it's in our interest, our security interests, to provide support to Ukraine. Yes, we pay a price: higher energy bills, higher inflation, the economic costs of providing support – but the price we will pay if we don't succeed, if President Putin wins, will be much higher because then we'll live in a more dangerous world,” the Secretary General is sure.