«Sit on a mountaintop in Switzerland and drink until losing pulse». Rutte revealed his and Zelenskyy's post-war plans
The NATO Secretary General, on the popular Dutch talk show Pauw & De Wit, revealed how he and the President of Ukraine would like to celebrate the end of the war.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte at the NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey, July 7, 2026. Photo: AP Photo / Hussein Malla
The host reminded Rutte that Zelenskyy and former NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg had agreed to go fishing together after the war. And asked if Rutte had a similar plan.
«We will sit on top of a Swiss mountain», he replied.
When asked for clarification on what they would do there, Rutte replied that they would sit on top of a Swiss mountain and drink until they dropped.
According to the NATO Secretary General, he and Zelenskyy had indeed discussed such a vacation.
Rutte also said that before official negotiations, he and Zelenskyy often speak one-on-one first. In such conversations, they also discuss personal matters: how they endure the strain, how they cope physically. According to Rutte, alongside the burden of what is happening, there is still room for jokes and dreams.
«How wonderful it would be if all this finally ended! And you could live without all this security and drones overhead», he recounted his words to Zelenskyy.