Mark Rutte, NATO Secretary General, speaking at a conversation on NATO’s Future in Des Moines, Iowa on September 23, 2026.
So, we have this joint organisation, Ukraine-NATO, where we capture all the lessons from the war, making sure that we understand what is happening, and particularly drone warfare and counter drone warfare. What it means, and learning from that. One of the things we learn is that these drones, the drone technology, is developing so fast that doesn’t make sense to have your shelves full with drones for when war breaks out. You have to make sure that the drone production capacity is there, and then producing the drones of the latest technology. So that’s one.
Let me also say that if NATO would be at war with Russia, and clearly NATO is a defensive Alliance, we will never ever opt for a conflict with the Russians, but if they would force us to return something they are doing, it will be a different war. Because we have other means than the Ukrainians have, and I’m not talking about nuclear, obviously, but in the conventional domain, we have other means to make our views known to the Russians.
