All 32 NATO ambassadors join Rutte in Kyiv as talks focus on Patriot supplies and missile defense
All 32 NATO North Atlantic Council ambassadors visited Kyiv on June 4 alongside Secretary General Mark Rutte, co-chairing a NATO-Ukraine Council meeting with President Volodymyr Zelensky in an explicit rebuff to Russian threats against foreign missions. Talks centred on securing additional Patriot systems and PAC-3 interceptors -- described by Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha as 'the only system in the world capable of reliably countering' Russian ballistic missiles -- alongside the Prioritized Ukraine Requirements List that allows European countries to fund purchases of US weapons. The visit, in its second day, came days after Russia's largest aerial assault of the year -- 73 missiles and 656 drones -- killed 22 people including two children and wounded at least 130.
Senior representatives from all 32 NATO member states descended on Kyiv on Thursday alongside Secretary General Mark Rutte, meeting President Volodymyr Zelensky in a joint NATO-Ukraine Council session and separate bilateral talks. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha framed the visit in direct political terms: 'Putin tried to intimidate foreign diplomats and drive them out of Kyiv. But he failed,' he wrote on X. 'Instead, the entire NATO North Atlantic Council visited Kyiv today -- 32 senior diplomats representing every NATO ally, led by our true friend, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte.' Rutte said at a joint press conference with Zelensky that the presence of all 32 allies sent 'a strong message of the enduring bond between NATO and Ukraine.'
Securing additional Patriot air-defence batteries and PAC-3 interceptor missiles dominated the agenda. Sybiha described the Patriot system as 'the only system in the world capable of reliably countering' Russia's growing reliance on ballistic missiles. He said allies also discussed how to accelerate contributions through the Prioritized Ukraine Requirements List (PURL), a mechanism that allows European governments to finance purchases of American-manufactured weapons for Ukraine. On a strategic level, talks covered a broader European anti-ballistic missile defence architecture, with Sybiha saying Ukraine was 'ready to contribute' but needed a joint accelerated effort from allies.
The delegations were hosted at Kyiv's Saint Sophia Cathedral, more than a thousand years old, which Sybiha called a symbol of Ukrainian statehood and history 'that Russia tries to steal but will not succeed.' Ukraine-NATO ties are accelerating ahead of the NATO summit in Ankara scheduled for July; Zelensky said Ukraine 'will be there' and that Kyiv had presented concrete proposals for summit outcomes.
Rutte's unannounced visit -- his second to Kyiv this year after a February trip when he addressed the Verkhovna Rada -- had begun on Wednesday. It came days after one of Russia's largest aerial assaults of the war, involving 73 missiles and 656 drones, which killed 22 people including two children and wounded at least 130 across Ukraine. Moscow has repeatedly warned foreign diplomatic missions against operating in Kyiv; the all-32-ambassador visit was a collective rejection of that pressure.