{"id":8119,"date":"2025-06-26T12:03:46","date_gmt":"2025-06-26T12:03:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.euro-tv.ro\/news\/as-nato-summit-fawns-over-daddy-trump-ukraine-gets-only-words-of-comfort\/"},"modified":"2025-06-26T12:03:46","modified_gmt":"2025-06-26T12:03:46","slug":"as-nato-summit-fawns-over-daddy-trump-ukraine-gets-only-words-of-comfort","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.euro-tv.ro\/news\/as-nato-summit-fawns-over-daddy-trump-ukraine-gets-only-words-of-comfort\/","title":{"rendered":"As NATO summit fawns over \u2018daddy\u2019 Trump, Ukraine gets only words of comfort"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"As<\/p>\n

THE HAGUE, Netherlands<\/strong> \u2014 As NATO leaders convened in The Hague for a two-day summit on June 24\u201325, allies and Kyiv braced for the first annual meeting since U.S. President Donald Trump\u2019s return to office.<\/p>\n

With the srael-Iranian conflict dominating the news and the summit agenda focused on the new 5% defense spending target, Ukraine<\/a> no longer took center stage.<\/p>\n

This was chiefly because of one man: Trump<\/a> has shown little appetite for ramping up military assistance for Ukraine, and there are growing fears he might disengage from the war altogether.<\/p>\n

He has also ruffled the feathers of his NATO allies by publicly doubting the U.S. commitment to Article 5.<\/p>\n

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte<\/a> set out to demonstrate that transatlantic unity remains strong \u2014 even if that meant appeasing Trump with flattery and deprioritizing potentially divisive topics like Ukraine.<\/p>\n

This shift was underscored by the summit\u2019s final statement, which offered little more than stale words of comfort to the war-torn country, even as Russia launched new large-scale attacks<\/a> against its cities.<\/p>\n

President Volodymyr Zelensky<\/a> did not leave the summit empty-handed, however. He got his much-desired meeting<\/a> with Trump, which seemed to have gone smoothly.<\/p>\n

Rutte also sought to reassure Kyiv that support for Ukraine holds, stressing that allies have committed some 35 billion euros ($40 billion) in aid to Ukraine this year so far, about 10 billion euros more than in the first half of last year.<\/p>\n

But it hasn\u2019t dispelled the sense that an era is ending \u2014 one in which Ukraine\u2019s struggle against Russia held an unquestioned place at the center of NATO\u2019s agenda.<\/p>\n

Ukraine's small victories<\/code><\/h2>\n

The NATO summit wasn\u2019t a complete failure for Ukraine. In fact, the most pessimistic rumors<\/a> swirling around in the lead-up to the event did not come true.<\/p>\n

Zelensky did, after all, receive an invitation to the summit, dispelling speculation that Ukraine would be left out due to opposition from the U.S. He also managed to have a face-to-face meeting with Trump for the first time since their brief talk in the Vatican in April, rectifying the missed opportunity at the G7 summit.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\n

\n\u201cEverybody understands that the attack against Ukraine is an attack against us as well. Ukraine belongs to Europe.\u201d\n <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

Though details of the meeting are scarce, Trump left the talk uncharacteristically critical of Russian leader Vladimir Putin.<\/p>\n

Responding to a journalist during a press conference, the U.S. president acknowledged<\/a> it is \u201cpossible\u201d Putin may have territorial ambitions beyond Ukraine \u2013 a rare admission for Trump, who always professed his trust in the Russian leader.<\/p>\n

“I consider him (Putin) a person I think is misguided,” Trump said.<\/p>\n

“I think it\u2019s a great time to end it (war). I\u2019m going to speak to Vladimir Putin, see if we can get it ended,” Trump added. “He (Zelensky) is fighting a brave battle, it’s a tough battle.”<\/p>\n

\"As<\/picture>
President Volodymyr Zelensky (L) and U.S. President Donald Trump (R) meet during the NATO Summit in The Hague, Netherlands, on June 25, 2025. (Zelenskiy \/ Official Telegram Account \/ Handout \/ Anadolu via Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Trump also carefully signaled support<\/a> for sending Ukraine additional missiles for Patriot air defense systems, though no concrete commitment was made. Asked about further air defense assistance by a Ukrainian journalist whose husband is a soldier fighting in Ukraine, Trump, in a rare show of sympathy toward Ukrainians, acknowledged her distress over Russia\u2019s escalating aerial attacks.<\/p>\n

“They (Ukraine) do want to have the anti-missile missiles, as they call them, the Patriots<\/strong><\/a>, and we’re going to see if we can make some available,” Trump said.<\/p>\n

Other NATO leaders reaffirmed their steadfast support for Ukraine as it continues to resist Russia\u2019s full-scale invasion, now in its fourth year.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverybody understands that the attack against Ukraine is an attack against us as well. Ukraine belongs to Europe,\u201d Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsakhna told the Kyiv Independent during an interview at the summit.<\/p>\n

Zelensky\u2019s rhetoric was focused on pressuring Russia to accept a just peace and on raising more international funding for the Ukrainian defense industry.<\/p>\n

Individual countries and other partners responded. The Netherlands and Norway pledged hundreds of millions to the Ukrainian defense industry, while the EU confirmed that its new, ambitious $175-billion SAFE defense spending program will be open to Kyiv.<\/p>\n

But as the summit unfolded, it became increasingly clear that the spotlight is on Trump.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n
Putin insists the Russian economy is fine, but Kremlin officials say otherwise<\/div>\n
In a rare public sign that all is not well in Russia, two high-ranking Moscow officials last week issued separate warnings about the state of the country\u2019s economy. Russian Central Bank Governor Elvira Nabiullina and Economy Minister Maxim Reshetnikov both highlighted that amid the Kremlin\u2019s full-scale war against Ukraine, the tools Moscow once relied on to maintain wartime growth are nearly exhausted. Almost immediately, Russian President Vladimir Putin on June 20 dismissed the concerns, clai<\/div>\n
\"AsThe Kyiv Independent<\/span>Tim Zadorozhnyy<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\"As<\/div>\n

<\/a><\/figure>\n

Charm offensive, aimed at Trump<\/code><\/h2>\n

To say that The Hague summit took place at a precarious moment would be an understatement.<\/p>\n

NATO is gripped by what is arguably its greatest existential crisis yet, and the most challenging security situation since the Cold War.tes<\/p>\n

Since taking office, Trump has signaled plans to reduce military presence in Europe and cast doubt<\/a> on his commitment to Article 5 \u2013 including just before his trip to the summit.<\/p>\n

As Trump\u2019s attention wanders away from Europe and Ukraine to the Israel-Iran conflict and other regions, Europeans are left to grapple with the fears that they might have to face Russian aggression on their own.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\n

\n\u201cMr President, dear Donald, Congratulations and thank you for your decisive action in Iran, that was truly extraordinary, and something no one else dared to do. It makes us all safer.\u201d\n <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

Perhaps that is why NATO leaders were so dead set on bringing Trump to the summit.<\/p>\n

As the Kyiv Independent learned from a Ukrainian official, member countries pulled out all the stops to get Trump to attend, giving him a king\u2019s treatment during the dinner and keeping the summit deliberately short.<\/p>\n

Leading this charm offensive was the secretary general himself.<\/p>\n

\"As<\/picture>
U.S. President Donald Trump (R) and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte (L) speak to media at the start of the second day of the 2025 NATO Summit in The Hague, Netherlands, on June 25, 2025. (Andrew Harnik \/ Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"As<\/picture>
NATO heads of state and government pose for an official photo on the second day of the 2025 NATO Summit in The Hague, Netherlands, on June 25, 2025. (Omar Havana \/ Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cMr President, dear Donald, Congratulations and thank you for your decisive action in Iran, that was truly extraordinary, and something no one else dared to do. It makes us all safer,\u201d Rutte wrote in a message to Trump ahead of the summit, which the U.S. president promptly published.<\/p>\n

\u201cEurope is going to pay in a BIG way, as they should, and it will be your win,\u201d he continued, referring to an agreement to raise the defense spending benchmark to 5% of GDP in a style strikingly similar to Trump\u2019s.<\/p>\n

Asked by a journalist whether the revelation of this text was not embarrassing for him, Rutte only doubled down, jokingly referring to Trump as a \u201cdaddy\u201d during a briefing.<\/p>\n

The summit\u2019s focus on defense spending was likely a deliberate offering to Trump, who has lambasted European allies as underpaying freeloaders. When Rutte managed to get a unanimous agreement on the new spending target despite protests from Spain, he had a big win to present to Trump.<\/p>\n

“Your leadership on this has already produced $1 trillion in extra spending from European allies since 2016. And decisions today will produce trillions more for common defense,\u201d Rutte told Trump during the summit.<\/p>\n

Trump has not been alone in this criticism. NATO\u2019s eastern members, who devote considerably more to defense than their western and southern partners, echoed the sentiment.<\/p>\n

\u201cI totally agree with President Trump\u2026 Europe must pay more, Europe must take more responsibility for its own defense,\u201d Tsakhna said.<\/p>\n

\u201cEurope has been like an old, lazy cat who was just waiting for something bad to happen, and the U.S. would come and solve the problems.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rutte’s strategy seemed to have paid off. Trump appeared in good spirits, praising the new defense pledge while enjoying a flurry of questions from journalists that, in the absolute majority, focused on recent U.S. strikes on Iran.<\/p>\n

Trump also signed off on the final statement that reaffirmed commitment to Article 5, mollifying his earlier comments.<\/p>\n

Ukraine sidelined<\/code><\/h2>\n

While the final communique of the NATO summit in Washington last year was 38 paragraphs long, with six devoted to support for Ukraine, this year\u2019s joint declaration<\/a> was a mere five paragraphs.<\/p>\n

The document did name Russia as a threat to the Euro-Atlantic security and reaffirmed support for Kyiv, but stopped short of condemning Moscow, mentioning Ukraine\u2019s NATO aspirations, or offering any concrete new assistance.<\/p>\n

This did not come as a surprise. Already in the runup to the summit, Bloomberg<\/a> reported that the joint communique would omit these topics to avert friction with the U.S. president, who has been averse to offending Russia.<\/p>\n

Rutte used the summit to repeat the familiar pledge that Ukraine\u2019s path toward NATO is \u201cirreversible,\u201d but it was obvious that Kyiv\u2019s accession, openly opposed by Trump, would not see any development in the near future.<\/p>\n

Even as Russia launched a brutal aerial attack against Dnipro<\/a> during the summit, which killed 19 people and injured 300, NATO offered Ukraine little but words.<\/p>\n

\"As<\/picture>
The aftermath of a Russian ballistic missile attack damaged a passenger train in Dnipro, Ukraine, on June 24, 2025. (Serhii Lysak \/ Telegram)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

What Ukraine received at this year\u2019s NATO summit was a far cry from the bold pledges made last year in Washington.<\/p>\n

But the meeting passed without any visible friction between Trump and his Ukrainian and European partners, with Ukraine even grabbing a few modest wins.<\/p>\n

In the era of Trump, that might be a success of itself.<\/p>\n

Asami Terajima contributed to reporting.<\/em><\/p>\n

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Note from the author:<\/em><\/h2>\n

Hi, this is Martin Fornusek. I hope you enjoyed this article. If you want to help us continue covering crucial events like the NATO summit in The Hague, please consider <\/em>becoming our member<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Thank you very much.<\/em><\/p>\n