Trump to Meet Zelensky at NATO Summit as Europe Grapples with War
As Russia's war grinds on, NATO leaders confront urgent questions about defense, unity, and transatlantic resolve.
President Donald Trump’s is scheduled to hold a high-stakes meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the NATO summit in The Hague on 25 June as European leaders pledge major new increases in defense spending to meet a rising threat from Russia.
It is a moment loaded with consequence for both Ukraine’s war effort and the trans-Atlantic alliance’s cohesion.
European capitals are looking for reassurance that US support for Ukraine will continue. A withdrawal of US support would leave Ukraine fighting a potentially losing battle over the next year against invading Russian forces.
‘My dear friend Volodymyr, you're here among friends and we stand by Ukraine from the very first day on and you can count on us also for the future,’ said European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in a speech welcoming Zelensky to the summit.
Von der Leyen emphasized the EU’s ongoing commitment, announcing a €50 billion loan program for Ukraine and its defense industry. ‘We are integrating our defense industries as if Ukraine was in the EU,’ she said.
Zelensky’s presence at the summit underscored how vital Ukraine’s fate has become to European security. ‘You are among friends, you can count on us, we stand by your side,’ von der Leyen said, adding that the bloc’s 18th sanctions package against Russia was designed to increase pressure on President Vladimir Putin.
Trump arrived in The Hague riding on a high after asserting American power by bombing Iran’s nuclear sites and brokering a tentative ceasefire between Israel and Iran. But ambiguous comments he made to reporters on NATO’s mutual defense obligations are raising new anxieties.
Trump’s comments unsettling
Asked whether he still backed NATO’s core Article 5 guarantee that an attack on one is an attack on all, Trump responded that it ‘depends on your definition. There’s numerous definitions of Article 5. You know that, right?’
‘I’m committed to being their friends,’ Trump added. ‘I’ve become friends with many of those leaders, and I’m committed to helping them. I’m committed to saving lives. I’m committed to life and safety. And I’m going to give you an exact definition when I get there. I just don’t want to do it on the back of an airplane.’
European officials hoped the summit would reinforce NATO unity amid growing threats from Russia 3and pledges of more defense spending. ‘We must together be so strong that no one can dare to attack us,’ German Chancellor Friedrich Merz told the German parliament ahead of the NATO summit. Germany’s new budget would more than double defense spending by 2029, rising to €152.8 billion (US$177 billion) or 3.5 percent of GDP.
Trump praised the alliance’s recent pledges of expanded military investment, but has offered no guarantees of American protection and planned to return to Washington on Wednesday. ‘He doesn’t want to be around for long, endless discussions on Ukraine strategy,’ said Michael O’Hanlon, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. ‘But the short ones interest him.’
Zelensky’s role
The brief but highly watched meeting with Zelensky, set against a backdrop of global conflict and strategic division , may signal Trump’s evolving posture toward Ukraine’s future and potential peace talks with Russia.
It’s become clear to most outside observers that, in the five months since Trump took office, Putin has been stringing the US president along on talks while planning to continue the war in Ukraine. Trump has seemed to recognize this in recent comments. The question is whether he will do anything to force Putin to end the war.
‘I'd like to see a deal with Russia,’ Trump told reporters traveling with him to the NATO summit. ‘Vladimir called me up. He said, ‘Can I help you with Iran?’ I said, 'No, I don't need help with Iran. I need help with you.'‘
‘I hope we're going to be getting a deal done with Russia,’ Trump added. ‘It's a shame.’
The NATO summit’s choreography appeared to carefully balance Zelensky’s participation and the focus on Ukraine with giving Trump accolades and primacy. At the summit’s opening dinner Tuesday night, Trump joined leaders from all 31 NATO nations at Dutch King Willem-Alexander’s royal palace. The allies toasted unity.
‘Our friends among NATO countries understand the delicacy of the situation and are trying to do everything possible to ensure Ukraine is present at the summit, while at the same time avoiding antagonizing Trump,’ Oleksandr Merezhko, chair of the Ukrainian parliament’s foreign policy committee, told The Washignton Post.
Beneath the surface, however, Europe and NATO are asserting a new global leadership that does not rely on the US. Europe is preparing to spend more on a new European defense industrial base. How much more remains to be seen. It will be more than the 2 percent of GDP target previously set, but likely less than the 5 percent metric being talked up at the summit.
A major shift
What’s clear is Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Putin’s potential threat to the rest of Europe and Trump’s demands that NATO members take more responsibility for their own defense have prompted a major shift in the alliance’s center of gravity.
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte captured the seriousness of the challenge in opening remarks to the summit. ‘My message to my European colleagues is stop worrying so much. Start to make sure that you get investment plans done, that you get the industrial base open and running, that the support for Ukraine remains at a higher level,’ Rutte said.
‘This is what you should work on, and stop running around being worried about the US,’ he said. ‘They are there. They are with us.’