Mark Rutte

A full day saying, we are not a paper tiger, we are a bear.

Hey, if you are a bear, everybody will notice, so you don't have to explain that.

So probably they are not.

Probably the president was right, and it hit a nerve in the Kremlin, and potentially at the highest levels in the Kremlin.

there is a there is a there is an issue there with the last time i looked you know russia is still advancing on the ground in ukraine very slowly very slowly and they have lost by now a million people that or seriously wounded they lose now in one month what the soviet union lost in 10 years in afghanistan this is what now the russians are losing in one month this is not sustainable with only very little to show for it the problem is

that whilst they are not competent to get this done, that still if you have a president willing to sacrifice one million people, we have to prepare ourselves for what they are willing to do without lots of success, but still trying to create difficulties for us.

And first of all, we have to make sure that Ukraine

is in the strongest possible position.

So I really commend what President Trump is doing.

He also opened the floodgates, as you know, a couple of months ago, of U.S.

kit, both lethal and non-lethal, into Ukraine, paid for by allies, so we're working on that.

This is crucial stuff Ukraine needs.

So in that sense, I think U.S., the president, Europe, NATO working together is a strong signal.

And he's not strong on the battlefield either, because if you have so many losses and you only gain a couple of square miles a week, I mean, nothing to show for it.

But I think you're absolutely right.

The economy is in difficulty.

We see the long lines now waiting at the gasoline stations to fill up the cars.

We have seen the Russians deciding to bring down the exports to countries like India and Turkey, oil and gas, etc.

And this is also because the Ukrainians are successful in targeting the Russian oil infrastructure.

And it is famously difficult to get an oil refinery up and running again after it has been hit by a missile or a drone.