Overview

• Ukraine has received a formal invitation to the June 24–25 summit in The Hague, a diplomatic victory for President Zelensky after pressing NATO leaders for inclusion
• President Trump will attend the gathering, marking his first NATO summit since returning to office and positioning him to shape discussions on military aid
• Allies are negotiating a phased target to raise defense spending to 3.5% of GDP on core military outlays and 1.5% on broader security-related expenditures by 2032
• US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is skipping the Ukraine Defense Contact Group meeting in Brussels, underscoring Washington’s shift away from direct coordination of Kyiv’s aid
• Recent peace talks in Istanbul have made little progress, prompting Kyiv to press for concrete Western-backed security guarantees at the summit