Former NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg says the way to change Russian President Vladimir Putin's mind and bring him to the negotiating table to end the war in Ukraine is to step up military aid to Kyiv.

Speaking in an interview with RFE/RL on November 7, Stoltenberg, who led the alliance for a decade before leaving in October 2024, said that despite "unprecedented" support some NATO countries are not doing all they should to support Kyiv.

While he said he would not "name and shame," he acknowledged this is "discussed among NATO allies internally."

His comments come amid stalled US-led diplomatic efforts to get Russia to agree to a cease-fire in Ukraine, where it launched a full-scale invasion in February 2022.

Stoltenberg, who was NATO chief at the time the invasion was launched and is currently Norway's finance minister, said Putin still believes he can win more on the battlefield than at the negotiating table, meaning his hand must be forced.

"I don't think we can change Putin's mind. His aim is to control Ukraine. But I do think we can change Putin's calculus," he said.

"And we can do that by stepping up, providing more military support to Ukraine, so Putin realizes that he will not win on the battlefield."

According to figures compiled by the Kiel Institute in Germany, NATO nations provided some 291 billion euros ($336 billion) of aid to Ukraine between January 2022 and August 2025.

This has included military supplies such as Patriot missile-defense systems, tanks, artillery, and fighter jets, as well as British and French Storm Shadow/SCALP cruise missiles.

But there has been no new major US military aid package since Donald Trump began his second term as US president in January, and European countries have failed to pick up the slack.