{"id":39357,"date":"2026-09-09T00:30:08","date_gmt":"2026-09-09T00:30:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/39357\/"},"modified":"2026-09-09T00:30:08","modified_gmt":"2026-09-09T00:30:08","slug":"rutte-says-ukraine-civilian-deaths-highest-since-may-2022","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/39357\/","title":{"rendered":"Rutte Says Ukraine Civilian Deaths Highest Since May 2022"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The number of civilians killed in Ukraine is at its highest level since May 2022, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said Tuesday, warning that delays in military aid are costing lives.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nato.int\/en\/news-and-events\/events\/transcripts\/2026\/09\/08\/remarks-by-nato-secretary-general-mark-rutte-at-ukraine-defence-contact-group-meeting\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Speaking<\/a> at the 36th Ukraine Defense Contact Group meeting, Rutte urged allies to accelerate support as Russia intensifies attacks on Ukrainian cities and infrastructure.<\/p>\n<p>JOIN US ON TELEGRAM<\/p>\n<p>Follow our coverage of the war on the <a class=\"inarticle_link\" href=\"https:\/\/t.me\/Kyivpost_official\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">@Kyivpost_official<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDelays simply cost human lives,\u201d Rutte said, calling on allies to \u201cdig deeper.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He said Ukraine\u2019s most urgent needs include air defense, Ukrainian-made drones and extended-range ammunition.<\/p>\n<p>NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte also warned that Russia is adapting its aerial campaign, using more North Korean missiles and jet-powered drones.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe see more North Korean missiles, we see jet-powered drones,\u201d he said, stressing that Ukraine needs help countering both existing and emerging threats.<\/p>\n<p>Rutte said NATO\u2019s PURL mechanism remains a key channel for financing US-made weapons for Ukraine, including vital air defense systems.<\/p>\n<p>Over the past year, allies have allocated $10 billion through PURL and US Foreign Military Sales, he said.<\/p>\n<p>The NATO chief urged members to increase bilateral support to meet commitments made at the Ankara summit.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNations must dig deeper. We do not have a choice,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The number of civilians killed in Ukraine is at its highest level since May 2022, NATO Secretary General&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":39358,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-39357","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39357","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39357"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39357\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39358"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39357"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39357"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39357"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}