NATO chief in Odesa vows ‘unwavering’ support – DW – 04/15/2025

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte on Tuesday called NATO support for Ukraine “unwavering” as he joined President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the southern port city of Odesa.

“Ukraine’s people have endured so much… not least Russia’s Palm Sunday attack on Sumy. NATO support is unwavering,” wrote Rutte in a post on the social media platform X.

“We will continue to help Ukraine so it can defend today and deter future aggression, ensuring a just and lasting peace,” Rutte said as President Zelenskyy was once again blamed for starting the conflict by NATO’s biggest donor, the US.

Rutte said US President Donald Trump’s ceasefire plan would not be easy to implement, while at the same time he condemned Russia attacks.  

“These discussions are not easy, not least in the wake of this horrific violence. But we all support President Trump’s push for peace,” Rutte said.

Rutte’s sentiments directly contradicted Trump envoy Steve Witkoff’s assessment that a peace deal “is emerging” after he returned from meeting  President Vladimir Putin in Moscow.

Ukraine’s military on Tuesday said its forces had a struck the base of a Russian brigade responsible for Sunday’s deadly missile attack that killed 35 people in the town of Sumy.

“(A base) of the 448th missile brigade of the Russian occupiers was hit, a secondary detonation of ammunition was recorded. The results of the strike are being clarified,” Ukrainian authorities wrote on Telegram.

Ukraine also moved to fire Sumy’s military governor Tuesday after comments he had made about the attack on social media.

Governor Volodymyr Artyukh’s firing was initiated after he suggested Russian forces had targeted a military gathering in Sumy, something Moscow has claimed and Kyiv has denied.

Artyukh, who has been the military governor of Sumy for two years, said he had been on his way to a military awards ceremony when the attack occurred.

The Kremlin accused Ukraine of using civilians as “human shields.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Monday told NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte that his country is in ‘acute’ need of air defenses as Russia continues to turn its nose at US President Donald Trump’s attempts to negotiate a ceasefire.

“Absolutely everyone sees how acute Ukraine’s need for air defense systems and missiles is. We talked about this a lot today,” Zelenskyy said as he and Rutte visited the southern Ukrainian port city of Odesa.

Russia has mercilessly pounded Ukraine with bombs, missiles and drones as Trump continues to blame Zelenskyy and former US President Joe Biden for “letting the war start in the first place” rather than calling out Russian President Vladimir Putin, whom Trump says is a friend, for launching the unprovoked invasion.   

NATO boss Rutte condemned Russia’s “terrible targeting” of Ukraine’s civilian population.

On Palm Sunday, a Russian attack on Ukrainian churchgoers killed more than 30 women and children. Earlier in the month Russian bombs killed more than 20 people in an attack on Zelenskyy’s home town.

Rutte vowed “unwavering” NATO support for Ukraine, saying, “we will continue to help Ukraine so it can defend [itself] today and deter future aggression.”

China has rejected what it called “manipulation and hype” over two of its citizens who were captured fighting alongside the Russian army in Ukraine last week. 

“China is verifying the relevant information and circumstances,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian told a media briefing.

He said that Beijing is calling on “relevant parties to accurately understand China’s objective and impartial stance, and to refrain from political manipulation and hype.”

“With regard to the individual actions and consular cases involving Chinese citizens overseas, China handles them in accordance with the law,” he added.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had said earlier that China “is aware” of its nationals being recruited to fight alongside Russian troops in Ukraine. He also alleged that there were 155 Chinese citizens fighting on Russia’s side, adding that Russia was recruiting them through social media. 

China has rejected Ukrainian claims that “many” Chinese nationals were fighting for Moscow. 

The captive Chinese soldiers appeared under armed guard at a press conference in Ukraine on Monday where they said that they hoped to be swapped. They also cautioned other Chinese citizens against fighting in the Ukraine war. 

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has said in an interview with Russian media that it was not easy to agree with Washington on the key elements of a possible peace deal to end the three-year war in Ukraine. 

“It is not easy to agree the key components of a settlement. They are being discussed,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told the Kommersant newspaper, in comments published Tuesday, when questioned if Russia and the US had consensus on some parts of a possible peace settlement. 

“We are well aware of what a mutually beneficial deal looks like, which we have never rejected, and what a deal looks like that could lead us into another trap,” the foreign minister added.

Lavrov also said that Russian political elite would not support any moves that led Moscow back towards economic, military, technological or agricultural dependence on the West.

At least one person was killed and nine others were injured in an overnight Ukrainian drone attack in the city of Kursk in Russia’s west, regional authorities and Russian state news agency TASS said on Tuesday. 

An 85-year woman died in the attack, the regional government said in a post on Telegram, calling the strike “massive.”

Fires broke out in some apartment blocks across the city, the statement added. 

A multi-story apartment building was damaged in the attack, acting mayor of Kursk, Sergei Kotlyarov wrote on Telegram. 

Kotlyarov said that residents have been evacuated to a nearby school.

The Russian defence ministry said on Tuesday that 109 Ukrainian drones were downed over the Kursk region overnight.

There was no immediate comment from Ukraine.

The attack came as the Ukrainian city of Sumy mourned one of the deadliest Russian attacks in the ongoing war. 

At least 34 people were killed when two Russian missiles struck the center of the eastern city on Palm Sunday morning. 

Kyiv’s forces have destroyed thousands of Russian military vehicles since the start of 2025 as part of a bid to limit Moscow’s logistics on the front line, Ukrainian commander-in-chief Oleksandr Syrskyi said late on Monday. 

“Since the beginning of this year, the enemy has lost 11,583 vehicles and special equipment,” he said on Telegram, referring to Russia.

Syrskyi added that over 35,000 Russian military vehicles were destroyed last year. 

The military chief claimed that the attacks had stopped thousands of tons of equipment, ammunition and fuel from reaching Russian soldiers. 

He said that knocking down Russian logistics remains a key task for Ukrainian forces. 

Ukraine is still reeling from a devastating Russian missile attack on the city of Sumy that killed at least 34 people, including children, on Palm Sunday. 

Western leaders have condemned the strike, which was the deadliest this year.

US President Donald Trump called the attack “a horrible thing” while Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has invited the American leader to come see the damage that Russia’s invasion has brought with his own eyes.

Meanwhile, on Tuesday, Russia accused Ukraine of a deadly strike on the Kursk region.

You can read about the latest developments in the Ukraine war in DW’s rolling coverage of events.