The Dutch prime minister has said western allies must send more weapons to Ukraine or risk seeing Ukrainian forces lose against Russia – something that would be “very problemsome” for everyone.

Mark Rutte also told Sky News that the NATO alliance needs to make good on a range of pledges made at a major summit in Madrid to bolster its own defences.

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Asked if the history books would look back at the Madrid summit as the moment when allies failed to respond to the challenge posed by authoritarian Russia, he said: “No it is not the moment when we failed.

“But whether this is a success depends on two things: whether we implement all the commitments including all the extra money being necessary… and secondly it is about again the weapon deliveries into Ukraine.

“This is the short-term thing we need to do. If we don’t do that then there is a risk that Ukraine cannot win this and that would be very problemsome for all of us.”

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At the summit, NATO allies agreed the biggest overhaul of their defences since the Cold War, increasing the number of troops at readiness to respond in a crisis, boosting military spending and bolstering their defences in countries that sit closest to Russia.

They have also pledged to increase support for Ukraine, with individual allies promising more weapons and money.

“It is crucial that every country in Europe and in NATO is now delivering the heavy weaponry they can deliver to Ukraine,” Mr Rutte said.

“I think we can still do more. This was my main point yesterday.

“We cannot supply people, we cannot have a situation where NATO comes into direct confrontation with Russia so we have to help (Ukrainian President Volodymyr) Zelensky and his team to make sure weapon deliveries are at a higher speed, as massive as possible the heavy weaponry etc and really call up on all my colleagues to do what they can.”

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The Dutch leader also said threats from Russia could grow if NATO fails to increase its strength such as by inviting Sweden and Finland to join.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned that Russia would respond if NATO troops and infrastructure are moved into the two Nordic states, which were invited to become members of the trans-Atlantic bloc during a summit in Madrid this week.

Asked whether the move by NATO to expand had been escalatory, Mr Rutte said: “It could escalate if NATO did not do this.

“If NATO would be weak that is the purest form of escalation.”

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