Mark Rutte made the remarks at the Munich Security Conference as he sought to justify continued assistance to Kiev
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte (L) speaks during a joint panel with Ukraine's Vladimir Zelensky (R) at the Munich Security Conference, on February 14, 2026. © Global Look Press / Michael Bihlmayer
[RT] NATO
Secretary-General Mark Rutte has said he had a conversation with a dog
during his latest trip to Kiev, as he argued for continued military aid
for Ukraine. He made the remarks during a joint panel with Ukrainian
leader Vladimir Zelensky at the Munich Security Conference on Saturday.
Rutte
visited the Ukrainian capital in early February, where he vowed that
Western nations would continue their support, potentially including
deploying troops to Ukraine – which Moscow has called unacceptable.
On
Saturday, he recalled his visit, including a meeting with a
bomb-sniffing dog named Patron – whose name means ‘bullet cartridge’ in
Ukrainian.
The Jack Russell Terrier from Ukraine’s State Emergency
Service has been turned into a sort of mascot by Kiev amid the conflict
with Russia, and was featured in a cartoon series on YouTube – which
turned out to be financed through USAID grant programs and was canceled
after US President Donald Trump shut down the organization.
“I even looked the dog in the eye, and he told me, ‘we will never give in,’”
Rutte said as he argued for more support for Kiev. He went on to say
the conflict has cost Russia many lives, urging Kiev’s Western backers
to “make sure” Ukraine has “the offensive stuff they need… to hit whatever they need to hit in Russia.”
Last year, Rutte raised eyebrows when he called Trump “daddy”
at the NATO summit in The Hague – as have his fawning personal messages
to the US president published by Trump himself on a number of
occasions.
Last month, French MEP Nathalie Loiseau called him “McDonald’s employee of the month” after he assured Trump of his commitment to finding a “way forward” on the US president’s ambition to acquire Greenland.