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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, whose near-three-year defensive war against the Russian invasion has been massively underwritten by Western allies, has developed a habit of biting the hand that feeds, the NATO Secretary General says.

Mark Rutte, the former Dutch Prime Minister appointed the new Secretary General of the NATO alliance this year has publicly — if gently — rebuked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for “harsh criticism” of his most generous backers for not giving enough. Speaking in an interview with German press agency DPA, Rutte stated “I have often told Zelenskyy that he should stop criticising Olaf Scholz, because I think it is unfair”.

The remarks are said to be over Germany’s refusal to donate its stock of advanced Taurus missiles to Ukraine, a long-range bunker-buster similar but stated to be slightly more sophisticated than the Anglo-French Storm Shadow/SCALP cruise missiles already donated to Ukraine, states Reuters.

Ukraine has also had harsh words for the German Chancellor’s recent telephone call with Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, claiming any talks with Russia undermines peace.

In his conversation with German media, NATO boss Rutte said that while he would personally have signed off on giving Taurus to Ukraine were he in Chancellor Scholz’ shoes, calling such weapons “very important” for Kyiv’s war strategy, nevertheless it isn’t his call and he wouldn’t tell NATO members what to do on donations.

The debate over the Taurus missile — both within and without Germany — has been going on for months, with Berlin rejecting sending the weapon because it believes doing so would risk further escalation of the conflict. The missile has the range to strike deep inside Russia and follows the contours and features of the ground below from pre-loaded cartography data, meaning it is less liable to be jammed by GPS interference that can bedevil other weapons.

Scholz said of this in March: “A Taurus with the 500-km range may hit some specific target in Moscow if used incorrectly…  From the very beginning I clearly said: there will be no German, NATO soldiers in Ukraine… We will prevent escalation, the war between Russia and NATO”.

Rutte’s remarks on Monday are not the first time Ukraine’s perceived lack of gratitude towards its multi-billion-dollar backers has hit the headlines even though, doubtless, in a war for survival the hard-nosed approach towards soliciting donations is one adopted with purpose. As reported last year, Ukraine summoned the Polish ambassador for a dressing-down after a Warsaw government figure stated: “Ukraine has really received a lot of support from Poland.

“I think it would be worth them starting to appreciate the role that Poland has played for Ukraine in recent months and years… Ukraine should start appreciating what Poland does for it”.

Ukraine dismissed the remarks out of hand as having no basis in reality. Months before that, the then-British defence minister Ben Wallace also counselled Ukraine to try and show more gratitude to its sponsors. President Zelensky himself responded with a sarcastic rebuttal, which in turn was called unhelpful by Ukraine’s ambassador to the United Kingdom. The ambassador was quickly sacked by Kyiv for publicly disagreeing with the President.