Former NATO Chief: Ukraine Risks Entering a ‘Forever War’
Ukraine risks sliding into a “forever war” and suffering a gradual loss of territory unless Europe dramatically increases pressure on Russia, including by deploying troops and establishing a missile and drone shield on NATO territory to protect Ukraine from Russian attacks, former NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen has warned.
The Gaze reports on it, referring to the Guardian.
Rasmussen, who led NATO from 2009 to 2014 and served as Denmark’s prime minister from 2001 to 2009, told The Guardian that if countries such as Poland hosted such air defences, Moscow would understand that any strike against them would be treated as an attack on the entire NATO alliance.
“We have to help the Ukrainian people protect themselves against Russian missiles and drones by building an air shield,” Rasmussen said. “NATO countries neighbouring Ukraine could host a NATO-based air and missile defence system.”
He also urged the creation of a European protection force to deploy in Ukraine before any ceasefire agreement is reached. He warned that a once “coalition of the willing” to defend Ukraine had effectively become a “coalition of the waiting.”
“If we do not carry out major changes in strategy, we face a forever war,” Rasmussen said. “Putin has no incentive to engage in peace negotiations so long as he thinks he can win on the battlefield. We need changes in both speed and mindset.”
Rasmussen, who maintains close ties with the Ukrainian leadership, is touring European capitals, including London, where he met UK National Security Adviser Jonathan Powell. The two discussed potential U.S. security guarantees for Ukraine — similar to those recently extended to Qatar after Israel’s attack on Doha.
According to Rasmussen, ironclad security guarantees could make it easier for President Volodymyr Zelensky to secure domestic support for any eventual peace deal that might involve territorial concessions.
He urged Europe to take bold steps to alter Vladimir Putin’s calculations — including deploying European troops inside Ukraine, strengthening a Europe-based missile and drone defence network, and supplying Kyiv with long-range missiles capable of striking deeper into Russian territory.
Rasmussen suggested that Germany could take the lead by providing its Taurus cruise missiles to Ukraine, which could pressure Washington to reconsider supplying Tomahawk missiles — an option U.S. President Donald Trump has so far resisted.
“That would send a clear signal across the Atlantic and put pressure on the White House,” Rasmussen said. “It’s in Germany’s strong interest to force Putin to engage in peace negotiations — and Taurus is the means to do so.”
Trump’s Ukraine policy remains uncertain after he appeared to retreat from supplying Tomahawks and instead proposed a second summit with Putin — a meeting later cancelled after Trump said he did not believe the Russian leader was serious about peace.
The U.S. subsequently imposed new sanctions on Russian oil giants Rosneft and Lukoil, but overall, Washington now appears inclined to let both sides “fight it out.”
Rasmussen also accused Europe of failing to grasp the scale of the Russian threat and renewed calls to use frozen Russian assets to finance Ukraine’s defence and reconstruction.
“We need to unfreeze the €150 billion of Russian assets held in Euroclear and use them as collateral for loans to buy weapons and begin rebuilding,” he said.
As The Gaze previously reported, according to Patrick Turner, Head of the NATO Representation to Ukraine, NATO will allocate $60 billion in 2026 to support Ukraine as part of a long-term assistance framework.
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