NATO’s Rutte says Zelenskyy’s criticism of Scholz is ‘unfair’

NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte has said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy should stop his “unfair” criticism of German Chancellor Olaf Scholz over Berlin’s refusal to supply long-range Taurus cruise missiles to Kyiv.

Germany has been one of Ukraine’s biggest allies since Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022 — it is second only to the US in terms of financial and military support given to Kyiv — but its reluctance to provide Taurus missiles has been a bone of contention for Zelenskyy.

“I have often told Zelenskyy that he should stop criticising Olaf Scholz because I think it is unfair,” Rutte told the German news agency dpa in an interview published on Monday.

While France, the UK and the US have in recent months sent Kyiv longer-range weapons capable of striking deep inside Russian territory, Scholz has turned down Zelenskyy’s requests for the Taurus cruise missile for fear of “a great risk of escalation” with Russia.

Rutte said that unlike Scholz, he would supply Ukraine with the missiles and not impose any limits on their use.

“In general, we know that such capabilities are very important for Ukraine,” Rutte said in the interview, adding that it was not up to him to decide what exactly allies should deliver.

Zelenskyy publicly criticised Scholz last month for having a telephone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin, saying that it had opened a “Pandora’s box” and undermined efforts to isolate Moscow and end the conflict with a “fair peace”.

Rutte’s comments may offer fleeting respite to the beleaguered Scholz, whose three-party coalition collapsed last month and then lost a parliamentary vote of confidence.

The chancellor has some of the lowest-ever popularity ratings for a German leader and his Social Democratic Party (SPD) is lagging in polls for the country’s snap election on 23 February.

Friedrich Merz of the Christian Democratic Union party (CDU), who is the clear favourite to replace Scholz, this month said he would supply the Taurus missile to Kyiv if elected.

In the interview with the DPA, Rutte also said he was set for fresh pressure from US President-elect Donald Trump about the levels of defence spending by allies in Europe.

“He’ll want us to do more,” Rutte said.

NATO has said that European members are on track this year to collectively spend 2% of their GDP on defence for the first time, although not all those nations have met the target, and Trump reportedly wants to raise that figure to 5% once he takes office next month.