Front row left to right, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, President Donald Trump and Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer during a group photo of NATO heads of state and government at the NATO summit in The Hague, Netherlands, Wednesday, June 25, 2025.

Nato’s joint statement from this year’s summit barely mentioned Russia or Ukraine this year, even though Vladimir Putin’s war continues to rage.

Ever since the Russian president ordered the invasion of his European neighbour in February 2022, Nato allies have offered unwavering support to Ukraine and repeatedly condemned Putin’s aggression.

But at this year’s meeting at The Hague – the first Nato summit since Donald Trump was re-elected – member states appear to have prioritised bending to the US president’s will.

The watered down statement seemed to be part of a wider strategy to win over Trump, a prominent Nato sceptic, and prevent him from fulfilling his past threats of pulling out of the alliance altogether.

The statement also focused on member states’ collective pledge to increase its defence spending target from its current 2% of gross domestic product (GDP) to 5% – although 1.5% of that sum could be spent on things like........

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