NATO membership has never been promised to Ukraine as part of a peace deal, the alliance chief said Friday.

“It has never been said before, and not even in that Washington summit statement, that when a peace deal would be done on Ukraine, that in that peace deal, it should be NATO, full stop. That is not the case,” Mark Rutte told reporters at the Munich Security Conference.

He stressed that it “has never been promised to Ukraine” that NATO membership would “be part of the outcome.”

Rutte added that things should go “step by step,” and the first step is to get Ukraine “in a position of strength,” and to secure a deal that would prevent Russian President Vladimir Putin from attacking Ukraine once again.

The alliance chief reiterated that European allies should spend more, and added: “It is absolutely clear, if we stick with the current numbers, we will not get there. We will not be safe (for) four or five years.”

Regarding the role of Europe in possible peace talks, Rutte said European countries must now “come up with the concrete plans: One, to get more military aid to Ukraine. Secondly, to get more training into Ukraine.”

Europe should “create effects on the ground, create effects in terms of the plans,” so as to get a seat at the table.

The NATO chief also expressed “sadness” over the “terrible attack” committed in Munich on Thursday.

“We hope that it will be clear what happened,” Rutte said, also voicing hope that the victims would “recover as soon as possible.”

The incident occurred Thursday when a car plowed into a crowd in the city center where members of a trade union had gathered for a demonstration. The car’s driver, a 24-year-old Afghan national, was quickly apprehended by the police at the scene.