NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte has made no statement suggesting that Ukraine "must fight until 2030." In reality, Rutte warned that Russia could be prepared to use military force against NATO within the next five years, and emphasized that the threat to European security will persist even after the war in Ukraine concludes.
A video of NATO troops and armoured vehicles in Estonia in February is not evidence of a recent military escalation with Russia, as has been suggested online.
VERDICT: Miscaptioned. The video shows NATO troops in Tallinn on February 24, 2025, for Estonia's Independence Day, according to NATO and British officials. Photos posted online in 2024 suggest the three armoured vehicles in the video were in Estonia long before February.
Verdict: False Ukraine did not 'start' this war. Russia launched an unprovoked and brutal invasion claiming hundreds of thousands of lives.
A spokesperson for the organisation told Full Fact: "This is a bogus claim. Secretary General Rutte has never said this."
They also pointed us towards the Secretary General's most recent remarks made to the media about President-elect Trump, congratulating him on his election victory and praising him for getting NATO countries to spend more on defence during his first presidency beyond two percent of the GDP target.
This quote is not real, however. There is no proof that Rutte has ever said or implied that he would expel the U.S. from NATO, and Rutte congratulated the incoming President on his victory in a post on X just two days after Election Day.
NATO spokesperson Daniele Riggio told PolitiFact the claim is "bogus."
"Secretary General Rutte has never said this," Riggio said. This post was flagged as part of Meta's efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed.
There was no real evidence of Rutte making the statement, which would have generated news headlines if he had actually said it. The quote was fabricated. A NATO spokesperson said the claim was "bogus."
Claim: "NATO troops deployed to Ukraine."
His source: Russian media. But we found no credible news reports or other reliable evidence to corroborate this.
A NATO spokesperson told us that the claim is false.
During the UN meeting dedicated to the International Day against Nuclear Tests, none of the countries accused Ukraine of threatening a nuclear disaster. Russia's rhetoric threatens international nuclear safety, as UN representatives from different countries clearly stated.
A column in the Ukrainian online newspaper EuropeanPravda by lawyer Mykhaylo Soldatenko examining the wording and nature of the treaty on future security commitments that Ukraine plans to sign with its allies is being touted by Kremlin propagandists as an example of the West refusing to provide Ukraine with security guarantees. Soldatenko does not write that the G7 countries refuse to provide security guarantees, he simply points out that the word "guarantees" did not appear in the G7 leaders' declaration after the NATO summit. Ukraine is currently negotiating with the United States and Britain on a bilateral agreement on security guarantees.