Rutte praises resilience of Ukrainian civilians amid Russian attacks

Rutte spoke during a discussion at the Munich Security Conference, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

Telling the audience of his latest visit to Ukraine, he said Russia's brutal strikes on critical infrastructure seem to be making Ukrainians "almost stronger" despite all difficulties they are facing in the winter cold.

Recalling his meeting with the Ukrainians whom the Russians had kept for weeks in the basement of a village in Chernihiv region at the time of the occupation in 2022, he said the face of the Russians is "the lack of decency and humanity."

The Ukrainians "told me they are resilient, we'll never give in, but tell this story to other people, what the Russians did here."

He also recalled the time he was shown Patron, a dog helping a Ukrainian bomb squad sniff out explosives in the rubble.

"The untold story of this war is the heroes - from the firefighters, ambulance services and all these people, and of course, soldiers, who are amazing, but sometimes we forget about the police and the firefighters and all the other civilian people who are helping," said the NATO secretary general.

As Ukrinform reported, President Volodymyr Zelensky stated that the longer the war continues, the more dangerous the evolution of Russian leader Vladimir Putin becomes.

Photo: screenshot from video