Closing summary
We’ll be closing this blog soon and starting a new one to cover the highly anticipated press conference by the US president, Joe Biden, to close out the Nato summit. Please do join me, Léonie Chao-Fong, on our new live blog.
Here’s a recap of the day’s main developments:
The US announced a new security package for Ukraine worth $225m, which includes a Patriot missile battery, additional ammunition for high-mobility artillery rocket systems and missiles, among other items. President Joe Biden told Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelenskiy “we will stay with you, period” ahead of a bilateral meeting on Thursday.
US president, Joe Biden, is scheduled to face journalists at a news conference marking the end of Nato’s 75th anniversary summit at 6.30pm ET. The US president’s press conference, which will include questions from reporters, is certain to be scrutinised for any signs of slip-ups.
Ukraine’s president Zelenskiy urged Nato allies to lift restrictions on its use of long-range weapons against targets in Russia. Zelenskiy said doing so would be a “game-changer” in its war with Moscow, adding: “If we want to win, if we want to prevail, to save our country and to defend it, we need to lift all the limitations.”
Hungary does not want, and will not support, Nato becoming an “anti-China” bloc, foreign minister Peter Szijjarto told Hungary’s state television while in Washington DC. Speaking on the sidelines of a Nato summit, Szijjarto also said Ukraine’s admission to the alliance would weaken unity within the group
Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said that any possibility of a direct confrontation between Russia and Nato was “worrying”. He added: “Any steps that could lead to this outcome should be consciously avoided.”
Hungary’s prime minister, Viktor Orbán, will fly to Mar-a-Lago on Thursday to meet with Donald Trump, according to two sources with knowledge of the meeting. Orbán has enraged his Nato allies by meeting with Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping en route to the alliance’s summit in Washington DC. He has also met with Zelenskiy in Kyiv, and is said to be quietly negotiating his own ceasefire plan without consulting either the Biden administration or other EU countries.
Biden has appeared to back Keir Starmer’s ambition for the UK having a closer relationship with the EU as the leaders held their first bilateral talks at the White House on Wednesday evening. The US president called the US and the UK the “best of allies” as he met the new prime minister in the Oval Office, describing the UK as the “knot” that tied the transatlantic relationship together.
France, Germany, Italy and Poland signed a letter of intent to develop ground-launched cruise missiles with a range beyond 500km (310 miles), aiming to fill what they say is a gap in European arsenals exposed by Russia’s war in Ukraine. Speaking on the sidelines of the Nato summit in Washington DC after the signing ceremony, French defence minister Sébastien Lecornu said the new missile was meant to serve as a deterrent.
Norway will donate 1bn Norwegian kroner ($92.69m) in support to Ukraine for its air defence, prime minister Jonas Gahr Støre said at the Nato summit. The donation comes a day after Norway announced it would give six F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine to help it in defence efforts against Russian air attacks.
Russia will act to counter the planned US deployment of long-range missiles in Germany, the Kremlin said, as it regarded the Nato military alliance’s actions as a serious threat to Russia’s national security.
Germany’s chancellor Olaf Scholz said that France remained a key partner on the international stage as leader Emmanuel Macron struggles to build a coalition government after elections. “France will be on the international agenda a big partner, a strong partner of all of us, and especially a partner for Germany,” Scholz said at the Nato summit on Thursday.
Romania, Bulgaria and Greece signed a deal to enable swift cross-border movement of troops and weapons to Nato’s eastern flank, Romania’s defence ministry said. The planned harmonised military mobility corridor between the three Nato and EU states was one of two such mobility corridors agreed on the sidelines of the Nato summit in Washington DC.
Updated
On the face of it, it was a busy Nato summit, not short of outcomes: badly needed air defence systems and fighter jets for Ukraine and a commitment that Kyiv was on an “irreversible path” to membership – plus a cross-alliance warning to China for its discreet help to Russia as it continues its assault on Ukraine.
Yet, behind the activity lurks the cliff-edge of the US election. In the Washington heat, the worry is not so much about Joe Biden’s health, but the Democrats’ ability to defeat Donald Trump in the November election. The reality is that Nato will struggle if the US is sceptical, fitful or unengaged.
During the last Trump presidency, Nato survived by hunkering down, making minimal commitments during a period of less geopolitical uncertainty. This time, with a major war continuing on the edge of Europe, a dysfunctional Nato is not obviously an attractive option, but it nevertheless lingers.
Read the full report here:
Updated
Nato secretary general Jens Stoltenberg said that Ukraine’s future “is in Nato”.
Stoltenberg’s comments on Thursday at the ongoing Nato summit in Washington DC follow his earlier comments on Wednesday when he said Ukraine’s membership to Nato is not a question of “if, but when”.
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Here are some images coming through the newswires of the ongoing Nato summit in Washington DC:
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The US’s plan to station long-range missiles in Germany is a step towards a new cold war confrontation, Russia said on Thursday.
Speaking to a state TV reporter on Thursday, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said:
“We are taking steady steps towards the cold war … All the attributes of the Cold War with the direct confrontation are returning,” Agence France-Presse reports.
Peskov’s comments follow the US’s argument on Wednesday that stationing long-range weapons including Tomahawk cruise missiles in Europe is a form of deterrence.
Peskov went on to add that the latest move by the US is giving Russia “a reason to pull together … [and] fulfill all the goals” of its ongoing military operations in Ukraine.
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US announces new $225m military aid package for Ukraine
US secretary of state Antony Blinken has released a statement announcing new military assistance for Ukraine.
In the statement, which was released amid the ongoing Nato summit in Washington DC, Blinken said:
… the United States is sending Ukraine a significant new package of urgently needed weapons and equipment to support the Ukrainian military as it continues to repel Russia’s assault.
This $225m package, which will be provided under Presidential Drawdown Authority, includes: a Patriot missile battery, munitions for National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems; Stinger anti-aircraft missiles; ammunition for High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems; 155mm and 105mm artillery rounds; Tube-Launched, Optically-Tracked, Wire-Guided missiles and equipment; Javelin and AT-4 anti-armor systems; small arms ammunition; demolitions munitions and equipment; and other ancillary equipment.
The package is the eighth security assistance package that the Joe Biden administration has authorized to Ukraine in its fight against Russian aggression.
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As we reported earlier, Nato’s secretary general Jens Stoltenberg was asked during his joint press conference with Volodymyr Zelenskiy about a report of a foiled Russian plot to assassinate the head of a German arms manufacturer.
According to the CNN report, US intelligence discovered earlier this year that the Russian government planned to kill Armin Papperger, the chief executive of Rheinmetall.
Rheinmetall has been producing artillery shells and military vehicles for Ukraine.
The plot to assassinate Papperger was one of a series of Russian plans to kill defence industry executives across Europe who were supporting Ukraine’s war effort, according to the report. It says that the plan to kill the Rheinmetall CEO was “the most mature”.
According to the report, the US informed Germany of the plan, and German security services were able to foil the plot and protect Papperger.
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Zelenskiy urges Nato allies to lift restrictions on Ukrainian strikes inside Russian territory
Volodymyr Zelenskiy, during a joint press conference with Nato secretary general Jens Stoltenberg, urged his country’s allies to lift all restrictions on Ukraine conducting long-range strikes on targets inside Russian territory.
The Ukrainian president said:
If we want to win, if we want to prevail, if we want to save our country and to defend it, we need to lift all the limitations.
Zelenskiy said he had spoken to Ukraine’s allies and he had “very good messages” from the UK about this, adding:
We need to do very concrete steps.
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Zelenskiy, asked about Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán’s plans to meet with Donald Trump, says he hadn’t been aware ahead of time about Orbán’s meetings with Vladimir Putin, Xi Jinping or Trump.
The Ukrainian president says he doesn’t know if Orbán will visit Kyiv again, and that “that’s between us”.
Updated
Stoltenberg says Ukraine's right of self-defence includes right to strike legitimate targets on Russian territory
Nato chief Jens Stoltenberg asked about restrictions placed on Ukraine regarding the use of weapons to hit targets in Russian territory, noting that this is a “war of aggression” launched by Russia and that Ukraine has the right to self-defence.
Nato allies have the right to help and uphold Ukraine’s right of self-defence “without becoming party to the conflict”, he says, but he notes that the right of self-defence includes the right to strike legitimate military targets on Russian territory.
Stoltenberg notes that allies have reduced the restrictions placed on Ukraine, with countries varying in their restrictions, but that this has enabled Ukraine to strike legitimate military targets on Russian territory.
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Volodymyr Zelenskiy, answering a reporter’s question, says Ukraine is “very close” to its goal of joining Nato.
The Ukrainian’s president says the next step will be an invitation, and that after that will be membership, adding:
I hope we will prevail.
Updated
Nato secretary general Jens Stoltenberg declines to comment on a report that the US and Germany foiled a Russian plot to assassinate the chief executive of the German arms manufacturer Rheinmetall, which has been producing artillery shells for Ukraine.
Stoltenberg says he will not go into that specific report, but says that there is a “pattern” of Russian campaign organised by its security services to conduct “hostile actions” against Nato allies.
The purpose of this ongoing Russian campaign is to intimidate Nato allies from support Ukraine, Stoltenberg says, adding:
What we have seen over the last months is that Nato allies have not been intimidated.
He adds that the Russian attempt to intimidate Ukraine’s allies is having the “opposite effect”.
Volodymyr Zelenskiy speaks about the “irreversibility” of Ukraine’s path towards Nato membership, saying:
Every step truly brings us closer to membership. We are doing and will continue to do everything to ensure that the day comes when Ukraine is invited and become a Nato member.
The Ukrainian leader says he is “confident” that his country will achieve this.
Volodymyr Zelenskiy begins his remarks by calling on Nato allies to “preserve our unity” in the face of Russian aggression, so that Vladimir Putin does not “succeed in making the world accept that wars of aggression are normal”.
The Ukrainian leader thanks allies for their support and says “concrete successes” have been achieved within the framework of this Nato summit.
Kyiv “appreciates” the decision to give it five additional air defence systems and dozens of other systems, Zelenskiy says, and expects them to be delivered “as soon as possible, so that as many lives as possible can be saved”.
Nato chief: 'Ukraine's future is in Nato'
Jens Stoltenberg says more than 20 allies and partners have signed bilateral security agreements with Ukraine.
The Nato chief says that he and Volodymyr Zelenskiy agreed during a meeting earlier today that “more funding, more military support, more security agreements and more interoperability constitute a bridge to Nato membership”.
“Ukraine’s future is in Nato,” Stoltenberg says, adding that he welcomes Kyiv’s progress on reforms and that as it continues “this important work, we will support you on your irreversible path to Nato membership”.
Updated
Jens Stoltenberg, the Nato secretary general, is holding a joint news conference with Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
Stoltenberg begins by welcoming the Ukrainian leader to the Nato summit, and says allies are “eager” to demonstrate their support to him and his country.
Since the last Nato summit, allies have provided Ukraine with “unprecedented support, including tens of billions of euros in military aid”, Stoltenberg says.
The Nato chief says that on Wednesday, allies agreed a “substantial” package for Ukraine, including security assistance and training and a “minimum baseline” of €40bn in military aid for Ukraine within the next year.
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'We will stay with you': Biden pledges new Ukraine weapons package to Zelenskiy
Joe Biden has told Volodymyr Zelenskiy that he would be announcing a new security package for Ukraine.
“We will stay with you, period,” the US president told his Ukrainian counterpart ahead of a bilateral meeting.
Zelenskiy said he and Biden would discuss how to achieve a just end to the war with Russia, and called for a second peace summit this year.
EU countries have complained that Hungary’s prime minister, Viktor Orbán, is negotiating with the Russian and Chinese leaders, Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping, as well as Donald Trump without their consent.
Orbán has also met with Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskiy and is said to be quietly negotiating his own ceasefire plan without consulting either the Biden administration or other EU countries. Hungary currently holds the presidency of the Council of the EU.
Orbán “wants to be the Trump guy in Europe if Trump wins the election so that then he can be … the one who can open the White House door for Europe”, a European Union diplomat told the Guardian.
Hungary will continue to hold the presidency of the Council of the EU through the end of the year, coinciding with a period when Trump could be president-elect. The diplomat added:
So for the last month before the swearing in he can be the European person in Washington making deals for everyone.
“There is a longstanding pattern of Orbán working with enemies of the western alliance system,” said Dalibor Rohac, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute thinktank in Washington. “It certainly does not serve the Hungarian interest or Nato interest.”
He might find a receptive audience in Mar-a-Lago but they are far from a consensus on the Republican side [when it comes to Orbán]. Yesterday [Senate minority leader Mitch] McConnell delivered a very powerful speech in the Senate where he dismissed the Hungarian PM for his meeting with Putin.
Updated
The White House has been asked about reports that Hungary’s prime minister, Viktor Orbán, is set to meet with Donald Trump in Mar-a-Lago today.
“I haven’t heard directly from anybody about this meeting, I’ve heard indirectly about it as many of you have,” said Jake Sullivan, the US national security adviser.
It certainly isn’t coordinated with the Ukrainians. They’ve indicated that they have great misgivings about any effort to negotiate some kind of fake peace with Russia without the Ukrainians being a part of that effort.
The Biden administration’s position is nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine. So whatever adventurism is being undertaken without Ukraine’s consent or support is not something that’s consistent with our policy.
Canada expects to increase its defence spending to the Nato target of 2% of gross domestic product (GDP) by 2032, according to its prime minister, Justin Trudeau.
Trudeau, speaking to reporters at the Nato summit, said:
We have built in a regular cycle of review in Canada’s defence, including a new defence policy update in 2028. Through that process, we will continue to explore opportunities that will further increase defense spending.
Canada, which has an annual defence budget of around C$31bn (£17.6n) has faced mounting pressure to increase its military spending as it continues to fall short of the Nato target.
Summary of the day so far
I will shortly be handing over the Nato summit live blog to my US colleagues, but first, here is a summary of the day so far:
Ukraine’s top presidential aide on Thursday called for an end to restrictions imposed on the use of allied-supplied weapons against targets deep inside Russia, saying it would be a “gamechanger” in fighting Moscow’s occupation. Andriy Yermak, speaking at a public forum on the final day of the 2024 Nato summit, did not name any specific country’s restrictions but his comment came days after the White House reaffirmed a prohibition on Ukraine conducting strikes deep inside Russia with US-supplied arms.
Hungary does not want, and will not support, Nato becoming an “anti-China” bloc, foreign minister Peter Szijjarto told Hungary’s state television while in Washington DC on Thursday. Speaking on the sidelines of a Nato summit, Szijjarto also said Ukraine’s admission to the alliance would weaken unity within the group
US president, Joe Biden, is expected to announce a new $225m aid package for Ukraine, including an additional Patriot missile system to bolster its air defences, reports the Associated Press (AP). Two US officials said the announcement is expected to be made during Biden’s meeting on Thursday with the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy. The officials spoke to the AP on the condition of anonymity to provide details of the aid before the public announcement.
Biden is scheduled to face journalists at a news conference marking the end of Nato’s 75th anniversary summit at 6.30pm EDT. The US president’s press conference, which will include questions from reporters, is certain to be scrutinised for any signs of slip-ups.
Biden, and his Nato counterparts were set on Thursday to hold talks with Asia-Pacific leaders and Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy amid concerns about growing support from China and North Korea for the Russian invasion. The flurry of final events at the Nato summit come a day after Nato labeled China a “decisive enabler” of Russia’s war against Ukraine. China in turn accused Nato of seeking security at the expense of others and warned the military alliance not to bring the same “chaos” to Asia.
Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on Thursday that any possibility of a direct confrontation between Russia and Nato was “worrying”. He added: “Any steps that could lead to this outcome should be consciously avoided.”
Hungary’s prime minister, Viktor Orbán, will fly to Mar-a-Lago on Thursday to meet with Donald Trump, according to two sources with knowledge of the meeting. Orbán has enraged his Nato allies by meeting with Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping en route to the alliance’s summit in Washington DC. He has also met with Zelenskiy in Kyiv, and is said to be quietly negotiating his own ceasefire plan without consulting either the Biden administration or other EU countries.
Biden has appeared to back Keir Starmer’s ambition for the UK having a closer relationship with the EU as the leaders held their first bilateral talks at the White House on Wednesday evening. The US president called the US and the UK the “best of allies” as he met the new prime minister in the Oval Office, describing the UK as the “knot” that tied the transatlantic relationship together.
Starmer defended Biden’s leadership credentials amid questions about the US president’s cognitive health, after meeting the president for their first bilateral talks. Starmer told the BBC that Biden had been “across all the detail”.
France, Germany, Italy and Poland signed a letter of intent on Thursday to develop ground-launched cruise missiles with a range beyond 500km (310 miles), aiming to fill what they say is a gap in European arsenals exposed by Russia’s war in Ukraine. Speaking on the sidelines of the Nato summit in Washington DC after the signing ceremony, French defence minister Sébastien Lecornu said the new missile was meant to serve as a deterrent.
Norway will donate 1bn Norwegian kroner ($92.69m) in support to Ukraine for its air defence, prime minister Jonas Gahr Støre said at the Nato summit on Thursday. The donation comes a day after Norway announced it would give six F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine to help it in defence efforts against Russian air attacks.
Russia will act to counter the planned US deployment of long-range missiles in Germany, the Kremlin said on Thursday, as it regarded the Nato military alliance’s actions as a serious threat to Russia’s national security.
Germany’s chancellor Olaf Scholz said that France remained a key partner on the international stage as leader Emmanuel Macron struggles to build a coalition government after elections. “France will be on the international agenda a big partner, a strong partner of all of us, and especially a partner for Germany,” Scholz said at the Nato summit on Thursday.
Romania, Bulgaria and Greece signed a deal on Thursday to enable swift cross-border movement of troops and weapons to Nato’s eastern flank, Romania’s defence ministry said. The planned harmonised military mobility corridor between the three Nato and EU states was one of two such mobility corridors agreed on the sidelines of the Nato summit in Washington DC.
Updated
US president, Joe Biden, is expected to announce a new $225m aid package for Ukraine, including an additional Patriot missile system to bolster its air defences, reports the Associated Press (AP).
Two US officials said the announcement is expected to be made during Biden’s meeting on Thursday with the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy. The officials spoke to the AP on the condition of anonymity to provide details of the aid before the public announcement.
The Patriot air defence system, the second the US has provided to Ukraine, is one of several Biden announced this week at the Nato summit and is part of a swell of pledges to get weapons to Ukraine to help it fend off Russian attacks.
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The UK prime minister, Keir Starmer, defended Joe Biden’s leadership credentials amid questions about the US president’s cognitive health, which have intensified since criticism of his performance in a TV debate against Donald Trump last month.
Starmer who met the president for their first bilateral talks at the White House on Wednesday as Nato leaders gathered in Washington DC to discuss the challenges facing the bloc, said Biden had been “across all the detail”.
According to the PA news agency, Starmer told broadcasters their one-to-one discussions had happened “at pace” and Biden seemed “on really good form”.
“We were billed for 45 minutes, we went on for the best part of an hour,” he said. “He was absolutely across all the detail. We were going at pace through a number of issues.”
Asked by a reporter whether the president was senile, Starmer told the BBC:
No … he’s shown incredible leadership. If there’s one thing that came out of the council session yesterday it was a clear understanding by everybody here that we’re faced with more threats now than we’ve faced for many years, and that we need the resolve of Nato.
President Biden has led through some of the most challenging issues, actually, that we’re facing globally.”
Starmer’s latest comments come after the two leaders spoke on the sidelines of the Nato summit as the prime minister seeks to strengthen what he called the “very special relationship” between the UK and US.
Thank you for your warm welcome @POTUS.
— Keir Starmer (@Keir_Starmer) July 11, 2024
I look forward to continuing the special relationship between our two countries.#NATOSummit pic.twitter.com/7qTeTywwIa
Meanwhile, Biden earlier appeared to back Starmer’s push for the UK to forge closer defence ties with Europe, as he called the UK the “transatlantic knot”.
The PA news agency reports that Starmer wants an ambitious new UK-EU security pact to strengthen cooperation and seeks closer work on defence with key allies such as France and Germany. Biden said: “I kind of see you guys as the knot tying the transatlantic alliance together, the closer you are with Europe. We know where you are, you know where we are.”
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Hungary’s prime minister, Viktor Orbán, will fly to Mar-a-Lago on Thursday to meet with Donald Trump, according to two sources with knowledge of the meeting.
Orbán has enraged his Nato allies by meeting with Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping en route to the alliance’s summit in Washington DC. He has also met with Volodymyr Zelenskiy in Kyiv, and is said to be quietly negotiating his own ceasefire plan without consulting either the Biden administration or other EU countries.
The two men will meet at Mar-a-Lago at 7pm, a source close to Trump said. Orban’s 606 Dassault Falcon jet was one of the several international planes that flew into Joint Base Andrews on Tuesday to attend the 2024 Nato summit. As of 10.30am eastern time on Thursday, the Hungarian military plane was still parked in Maryland.
Orbán did not discuss details of his negotiations with Putin or Xi with the Biden administration. Three sources briefed on the summit preparations said that he did not ask for a bilateral meeting with Joe Biden. EU countries have complained that Orbán is negotiating without their consent as Hungary currently holds the presidency of the European Council.
Orbán and his campaign advisers have fully backed Trump for re-election in November. His foreign minister, Péter Szijjártó, told Reuters: “We see a chance for peace if President Trump is winning. We see a chance for good Hungary-US relationships if President Trump is winning.”
You can read the full piece by Flora Garamvolgyi, Andrew Roth and Hugo Lowell here:
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My colleague in the US, Robert Tait has written about how Joe Biden’s Nato speech later poses a major test for his campaign as calls mount for him to step down. He writes:
The press conference, which will include questions from reporters, is certain to be scrutinised minutely for any signs of verbal slip-up or mental frailty resembling those Biden displayed in the debate.
The event is the kind of unscripted set piece that Biden’s staff stand accused of shielding him from, and any repeat of the calamitous debate display could turn the steady trickle of public calls for Biden to stand aside into a flood.
Some of Biden’s most loyal acolytes at the top of the Democratic party have issued less than full-throated statements of support in recent days.
Chuck Schumer, the Senate majority leader, who has repeated the mantra “I’m for Joe” throughout the crisis, was reported to have signalled openness to having the president replaced at the top of the presidential ticket.
Axios reported that Schumer had been taking close account of the feelings of party donors and fellow senators in the 12 days since Biden’s meltdown in the 27 June debate, when he plunged the viability of his candidacy into doubt by abjectly failing to defend his own policies or counter Trump’s lies.
“As I have made clear repeatedly publicly and privately, I support President Biden and remain committed to ensuring Donald Trump is defeated in November,” Schumer said, in comments that fell short of a ringing endorsement. On Wednesday, Peter Welch of Vermont became the first Democratic senator to publicly tell Biden to step aside. Nine members of the House of Representatives have already done so.
“He saved us from Donald Trump once and wants to do it again. But he needs to reassess whether he is the best candidate to do so. In my view, he is not,” Welch wrote in a Washington Post opinion piece.
You can read the full piece here:
Updated
Here are some images from the Nato summit today, courtesy of the newswires:
France, Germany, Italy and Poland agree to jointly develop long-range cruise missiles
France, Germany, Italy and Poland signed a letter of intent on Thursday to develop ground-launched cruise missiles with a range beyond 500km (310 miles), aiming to fill what they say is a gap in European arsenals exposed by Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Reuters reports that speaking on the sidelines of the Nato summit in Washington DC after the signing ceremony, French defence minister Sébastien Lecornu said the new missile was meant to serve as a deterrent.
“The idea is to open it up as widely as possible,” he told reporters, and suggested the UK’s new Labour government could join. “It has value, including on a budgetary level, because it obviously also allows the various costs to be amortized.”
A first draft of the weapon might be sketched out by the end of the year, he said, with the specifications such as the range to be worked out in more detail later.
He was speaking one day after the US and Germany announced they would begin deploying US long-range missiles on German soil in 2026, including the SM-6, Tomahawks and developmental hypersonic weapons.
The deployment, condemned by Moscow as a “very serious threat” to Russian national security, is seen as a stopgap solution until Europe has its own long-range missiles ready, reports Reuters.
Germany’s chancellor Olaf Scholz said on Thursday that France remained a key partner on the international stage as leader Emmanuel Macron struggles to build a coalition government after elections, reports Agence France-Presse (AFP).
“France will be on the international agenda a big partner, a strong partner of all of us, and especially a partner for Germany,” Scholz said at the Nato summit in Washington DC.
Scholz said he was “delighted” that the second round of voting in France over the weekend had not given the far-right a majority.
“It’s now the task of the politicians to find a solution and to make something out of it,” Scholz said. “I’m quite confident that they will in the end.”
The stalemate in France has seen questions raised over whether Macron and France can continue to play a central role in Nato and the EU, reports AFP.
“France has a strong president who is acting in the international scene,” Scholz said. “I had yesterday a very good exchange with my friend Emmanuel Macron, so I’m not wondering what will happen,” he added.
US president, Joe Biden, will hold a solo press conference at the Nato summit on Thursday, his first time facing the press alone since November, reports Reuters.
Biden, will take an unspecified number of questions from reporters, in an event expected to last about as long as November’s, which ran to 21 minutes. The press conference is expected to begin at 6.30pm EDT (10.30pm GMT/11.30pm BST).
Ukraine official calls for end to limits on use of allied-supplied arms
Ukraine’s top presidential aide on Thursday called for an end to restrictions imposed on the use of allied-supplied weapons against targets deep inside Russia, saying it would be a “gamechanger” in fighting Moscow’s occupation, reports Reuters.
Andriy Yermak did not name any specific country’s restrictions but his comment came days after the White House reaffirmed a prohibition on Ukraine conducting strikes deep inside Russia with US-supplied arms, following a Russian missile strike on a Kyiv children’s hospital.
“The partners have to take off any restrictions to use weapons not just by Ukrainian territory but have the possibility to answer [Russian attacks] including the territory of Russia,” Yermak told a public forum on the final day of the 2024 Nato summit.
“It’s impossible to fight them,” he continued, noting that Russia does not have “any restrictions. The enemy can directly attack to our civilians, children’s hospitals, schools and we have these restrictions.”
“It will be a real gamechanger” if Ukraine’s allies lift all limits on its use of their weapons “and I hope that our partners understand that and agree this decisions as soon as possible,” said Yermak, chief of staff to Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
US president Joe Biden’s administration permits Ukraine to use US-supplied arms against targets just inside Russia that are supporting Russian offensive operations in Ukraine, but prohibits their use for strikes deep inside Russian territory.
Updated
Romania, Bulgaria and Greece signed a deal on Thursday to enable swift cross-border movement of troops and weapons to Nato’s eastern flank, Romania’s defence ministry said.
Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine has increased the urgency both for Nato and the EU to speed up preparations, including the ability to quickly send reinforcements, in case of a sudden conflict with Moscow. Nato has told its members that too much red tape is hindering troop movements across Europe.
Reuters reports that the planned harmonised military mobility corridor between the three Nato and EU states was one of two such mobility corridors agreed on the sidelines of the Nato summit in Washington DC.
It aims “to optimise transport corridors to respond to military mobility needs by creating road and rail supply lines between the participating states, reducing peacetime bureaucracy and maximising efficiency in case of emergency situations,” the Romanian ministry said.
The three states could also connect their ports in the Aegean and Black seas. Romania and Bulgaria are already a part of a joint effort with Turkey to defuse stray mines in the Black Sea, says Reuters.
On Thursday, the Romanian and Bulgarian defence ministers also signed a memorandum to establish a regional special operations command centre which will plan and manage the alliance’s special operations forces in the Black Sea region.
I signed with Minister Zapryanov the MoU between the Defense Ministries of 🇷🇴 & 🇧🇬 to establish the Regional Command for Special Operations (HQ R-SOCC). This key project aims to enhance bilateral cooperation and allied security, fully operational by end of 2024. pic.twitter.com/cY91DbG3ka
— Angel Tîlvăr (@AngelTilvar) July 11, 2024
Nato leaders meet with Asia-Pacific partners as tensions mount with China
US president, Joe Biden, and his Nato counterparts were set on Thursday to hold talks with Asia-Pacific leaders and Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy amid concerns about growing support from China and North Korea for the Russian invasion.
Later, all eyes will be on Biden as he closes the summit of 32 Nato leaders in Washington DC with a news conference. It will provide a fresh chance for him to prove to watchers that he is capable of serving another four years after a shaky debate performance threw the future of his presidency into doubt.
The flurry of final events at the Nato summit come a day after Nato labeled China a “decisive enabler” of Russia’s war against Ukraine. China in turn accused Nato of seeking security at the expense of others and warned the military alliance not to bring the same “chaos” to Asia.
“We appreciate the close partnership with your country, and not least because our security is not regional, it is global,” Nato secretary general Jens Stoltenberg said as he welcomed South Korean president Yoon Suk Yeol for the last day of the alliance’s summit, reports the Associated Press (AP). “This is clearly illustrated by the war in Ukraine,” Stoltenberg added.
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, who is also taking part in the talks, said it was important to draw all partners into a conversation on how to ensure stability, notably as China strengthens its ties with Russia, but also in the Asia-Pacific region.
“China is supporting a Russia in the name of this unlimited friendship. [North] Korea is one of the most important suppliers of raw material to Russia,” he told reporters. He noted that maritime border tensions “in the Indo-Pacific puts a threat to the stability of the whole region.”
Zelenskiy will join allied leaders later for a Nato-Ukraine Council, a forum set up a year ago for the 32 allies and Kyiv to meet on an equal footing to share concerns and information.
On Wednesday, Nato leaders promised Ukraine that it is on an “irreversible path” to membership, although it can only join sometime after the war, when the allies agree that it has met all the conditions.
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German chancellor Olaf Scholz praised a plan to allow the deployment of US long-range missiles in his country, saying it fits perfectly into Germany’s own deterrence strategy, reports Reuters.
“This decision has been a long time in the making and comes as no real surprise to anyone involved in security and peace policy,” Scholz told reporters at the Nato summit in Washington DC.
“After all, it fits in perfectly with the German government’s security strategy,” he added on Thursday.
Nato secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, has met Japan’s prime minister, Fumio Kishida, and South Korea’s president, Yoon Suk Yeol, at the Nato summit today.
Honoured to welcome Prime Minister @kishida230 of Japan at the #NATOSummit. 🇯🇵 is among #NATO's closest & most capable partners. We agreed that security in East Asia & Europe is inseparable. I thanked the Prime Minister for Japan’s support to #Ukraine. pic.twitter.com/80sfcmxRHJ
— Jens Stoltenberg (@jensstoltenberg) July 11, 2024
Good to meet @President_KR Yoon Suk Yeol at the #NATOSummit. South Korea is a valued partner to #NATO & I welcome the signing of a NATO airworthiness recognition certificate – increasing interoperability. We also agreed to step up information exchange related to North Korea. pic.twitter.com/ONKytxlO6a
— Jens Stoltenberg (@jensstoltenberg) July 11, 2024
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Ukraine’s top presidential aide said on Thursday that the nation, which has been at war with Russia since 2022, is “satisfied” with the outcome of the Nato summit in Washington DC.
Andriy Yermak, the chief of the Ukrainian president’s cabinet, said the “next step” should be an invitation to Ukraine to join Nato.
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The Guardian video team have a live feed of the White House national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, and the head of the office of the Ukrainian presidency, Andriy Yermak joining world leaders at the Nato summit. You can watch it below, or embedded at the top of this blog.
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Deputy Russian foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov said Moscow had anticipated the US-German missile move which he portrayed as being designed to intimidate Russia and which further destabilised regional security and strategic relations, reports Reuters.
“The necessary work on the preparation of balancing countermeasures by the relevant Russian state agencies was started well in advance and is being carried out on a systematic basis,” Ryabkov said in a statement on his ministry’s website.
“Without nerves, without emotions, we will develop a military response, first of all, to this new game,” Interfax news agency quoted him as saying.
Russia will act to counter the planned US deployment of long-range missiles in Germany, the Kremlin said on Thursday, as it regarded the Nato military alliance’s actions as a serious threat to Russia’s national security, reports Reuters.
The US and Germany announced at a Nato summit in Washington DC on Wednesday that they would begin deploying long-range fire capabilities in Germany in 2026 to demonstrate their commitment to Nato and European defence at a time when Russia is waging war in Ukraine.
They said the “episodic deployments” were in preparation for longer-term stationing that would include SM-6, Tomahawk cruise missiles and hypersonic weapons with a longer range than current capabilities in Europe.
Nato also said on Wednesday that a new US air defence base in northern Poland, designed to detect and intercept ballistic missile attacks as part of a broader Nato missile shield, was mission-ready.
Reuters reports that when asked at a briefing with Russian news agencies about the outcome of the Nato summit, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said:
The North Atlantic alliance has once again very clearly confirmed its essence. It is an alliance created in an era of confrontation with the aim of maintaining confrontation.”
“Tensions on the European continent are escalating” as a result, he added, saying the Kremlin was watching as Nato’s military infrastructure crept closer.
“We see the decisions taken in Nato to create separate logistics hubs in Black Sea cities, the opening of additional facilities in Europe, and we see that in fact Nato’s military infrastructure is constantly and incrementally moving towards our borders,” said Peskov.
“This obliges us to analyse very deeply the decisions taken in the discussion that took place. This is a very serious threat to the national security of our country. All of this will require us to take thoughtful, coordinated, effective responses to deter Nato, to counteract Nato,” he said.
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Norway will donate 1bn Norwegian kroner to Ukraine for its air defence, says PM
Norway will donate 1bn Norwegian kroner ($92.69m) in support to Ukraine for its air defence, prime minister Jonas Gahr Støre said at the Nato summit in Washington DC on Thursday.
The donation comes a day after Norway announced it would give six F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine to help it in defence efforts against Russian air attacks.
“The Ukrainians need more air defence to protect their population from Russian bombs and missiles,” Støre said in a statement, reports Reuters.
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On Thursday, Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan also played down the influence of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), a regional bloc that Moscow and Beijing have promoted as a counterweight to US domination.
“We do not think that the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation is an alternative to Nato,” Erdoğan said, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP). Turkey has been an SCO dialogue partner since 2012 and Erdoğan, who attended the July summit, has suggested in the past he wanted full membership.
AFP reports that before flying to Washington DC on Tuesday, Erdoğan called for more Nato involvement in the war between Israel and Hamas. Erdoğan has already voiced concerns over what he said were Israeli plans to attack Lebanon and on Thursday renewed his warnings about the war spreading.
“Israel’s threats and attempts to spread the conflict must come to an end,” he said. “Otherwise, our region will face the risk of deeper conflicts and even a war.”
Turkey’s Erdoğan warns against Nato-Russia conflict
Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on Thursday that any possibility of a direct confrontation between Russia and Nato was “worrying”, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported, citing the Turkish state-run Anadolu news agency.
Erdoğan’s comments came as Nato leaders met in Washington DC and Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Russia was planning “response measures” to contain the “very serious threat” from the alliance.
“The possibility of a direct conflict between Nato and Russia is undoubtedly worrying,” said Erdoğan, who is in Washington DC for the Nato summit. “Any steps that could lead to this outcome should be consciously avoided.”
Erdoğan spoke a day after Nato allies announced they had started transferring F-16 jets to Ukraine while stepping up promises to Kyiv on eventual membership in the alliance, at a 75th anniversary summit clouded by political uncertainties in the United States.
AFP reports that Nato member Turkey has sought to balance ties between its two Black Sea neighbours Russia and Ukraine since Moscow’s full-scale invasion in 2022.
Last year, Erdoğan, whose government is seeking to mediate a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine, said Ukraine “undoubtedly” deserved Nato membership when he met Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
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Hungary will not support Nato becoming an 'anti-China' bloc, says foreign minister
Hungary does not want, and will not support, Nato becoming an “anti-China” bloc, foreign minister Peter Szijjarto told Hungary’s state television while in Washington DC on Thursday.
Speaking on the sidelines of a Nato summit, Szijjarto also said Ukraine’s admission to the alliance would weaken unity within the group, reports Reuters.
The final day of the Nato summit in Washington DC has begun with a bilateral meeting between Nato secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, and New Zealand’s prime minister, Christopher Luxon.
Nato leaders have been arriving for the final day of the Nato summit in Washington DC. Here, in a nutshell, is what to expect from today:
🗓️ TODAY: NATO Leaders will meet with Ukraine 🇺🇦, Indo-Pacific Partners 🇦🇺 🇯🇵 🇳🇿 🇰🇷 and the EU 🇪🇺
— NATO (@NATO) July 11, 2024
Follow @jensstoltenberg, @NATOpress and @NATO for the latest #NATOSummit updates
More information ⤵️
To give some context to comments by China’s foreign ministry spokesperson today accusing Nato of seeking security at the expense of others and telling the alliance not to bring the same “chaos” to Asia (see 10.45am BST), here is what was said about China at the Nato summit yesterday:
Deepening ties between China and Russia are a cause of “deep concern”, Nato leaders said in a declaration from their summit, accusing Beijing of playing a key role in helping Moscow’s assault on Ukraine.
China “has become a decisive enabler of Russia’s war against Ukraine through its so-called ‘no limits’ partnership and its large-scale support for Russia’s defense industrial base”, the declaration said, AFP reported.
They urged China to “cease all material and political support to Russia’s war effort”, adding that this “includes the transfer of dual-use materials, such as weapons components, equipment, and raw materials that serve as inputs for Russia’s defense sector”.
China “cannot enable the largest war in Europe in recent history without this negatively impacting its interests and reputation”, Nato leaders said.
You can also read the Guardian’s report on this story here:
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Here are some photos from yesterday via the newswires:
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All eyes will be on US president, Joe Biden, and his press conference at the Nato 75th anniversary event later today as he takes off-script questions from the media, writes Jem Bartholomew in the Guardian’s latest First Things newsletter.
You can read it here:
Criticism of Keir Starmer’s defence spending plans are “unfair”, the security minister, Dan Jarvis, has said as he defended the UK government’s strategic defence review, reports the PA news agency.
The major assessment will be launched next week and will set out a road map to spending 2.5% of gross domestic product (GDP) on defence. Jarvis on Thursday described the commitment to 2.5% as “absolutely cast iron”, but no date has been put on when spending will rise to this level.
The minister was asked whether there was a “whiff of hypocrisy” in the UK prime minister urging other Nato countries to honour their official goal of spending 2% of GDP on defence while the UK reviews its own funding.
Nato members have an official goal of spending 2% of GDP on defence and 23 members are thought to have reached that level, reports the PA news agency.
Jarvis told LBC Radio host Nick Ferrari:
I think that would be unfair, Nick, if you don’t mind me saying.
The prime minister has made a cast-iron guarantee that we will get to the point where we are spending 2.5% of GDP on our defence capabilities, but we think that these things should be done properly.”
He added:
Our commitment to 2.5% of GDP is absolutely cast iron, and we will get to the point as quickly as we possibly can, but it needs to be informed by the process of review that will be initiated very shortly.”
The Labour party has said it will aim to complete the review in less than a year, but some former military officials have insisted such decisions cannot wait that long. Starmer has refused to guarantee he will meet the flagship commitment within his first term in office.
Pressed on the timeline, Jarvis said the government is “not in the business of cutting corners”. He told Sky News:
It’s important that we follow the process and look carefully at the nature of the threat that our country faces, and the resources that will be required to put in place an armed forces that is fit for purpose … it’s an important process that will take a period of months.”
Labour has stressed that decisions on defence spending must comply with the government’s strict fiscal rules on spending and borrowing, with Jarvis saying the strength of the economy is “fundamental” to the process.
Shadow defence secretary James Cartlidge said:
This morning, the security minister was forced to defend Keir Starmer for calling on Nato members to increase defence spending when the Labour Government have not set a date to reach 2.5% of defence spending by.
In a world that is more volatile and dangerous than at any time since the cold war, Keir Starmer’s Labour government had a clear choice to match the Conservatives’ fully funded pledge to spend 2.5% of GDP on defence by 2030. By failing to do so, they’ve created huge uncertainty for our armed forces, at the worst possible time.”
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Flora Garamvolgyi, Andrew Roth and Jennifer Rankin have written about how the Hungarian prime minister, Viktor Orbán, has enraged most of the Nato alliance by meeting with Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping, while shunning Joe Biden, as he seeks to negotiate a Ukraine war settlement:
If there has been a spoiler at this week’s carefully curated Nato summit, then it is Viktor Orbán, the conservative Hungarian prime minister who has enraged his Nato allies by meeting with Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping en route to Washington DC in what he has called his “peace mission”.
Now on Thursday the Hungarian PM is planning to fly to Mar-a-Lago to meet with Donald Trump, a source close to Orbán told the Guardian, as he seeks to negotiate a peace deal without consulting other EU nations or the Biden administration. By contrast, he has effectively shunned Joe Biden at this week’s Nato summit and did not request a bilateral meeting with the US president, according to three sources familiar with the summit preparations.
The Hungarian PM has been quietly seeking to negotiate a settlement to the Ukraine war with an eye to a Trump re-election. Trump’s lead in the presidential polls has been bolstered by Biden’s blundering debate performance and questions about his mental acuity and age.
Orbán, who also met with Volodymyr Zelenskiy in Kyiv earlier this month, has sought to have Ukraine and Russia sit down to direct negotiations, talks that Zelenskiy has ruled out in the past.
You can read more of their report here:
The US president, Joe Biden, has shared a picture from his meeting with the UK’s new prime minister, Keir Starmer. In a post on X, Biden wrote:
Today, prime minister Starmer and I sat down for our first bilateral meeting since his recent election.
As the best of allies, we’re taking on the challenges that matter most to our people’s lives – from defending transatlantic security to fostering our economic relationship.”
Today, Prime Minister Starmer and I sat down for our first bilateral meeting since his recent election.
— President Biden (@POTUS) July 11, 2024
As the best of allies, we're taking on the challenges that matter most to our peoples' lives – from defending transatlantic security to fostering our economic relationship. pic.twitter.com/rOHxuVsLHG
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy will hold a news conference with Nato secretary general Jens Stoltenberg on Thursday, reports Reuters. It comes after Zelenskiy met both Republican and Democratic lawmakers at the US Capitol on Wednesday.
The Ukrainian leader, keen to cement ties with US lawmakers on both sides of the political aisle in the event that Donald Trump is reelected, met leaders of the Senate and House of Representatives and members of committees involved in defence, spending, diplomacy and national security.
Zelenskiy told reporters he invited Mike Johnson, the Republican leader of the US House of Representatives, to visit Kyiv.
In a clear warning to Russian president Vladimir Putin, the US on Wednesday said it would start deploying longer range missiles in Germany in 2026, the most potent US weapons to be based on the European continent since the cold war, reports Reuters.
A Nato declaration also said the allies would provide at least €40bn ($43.28bn) in military aid within the next year, although they stopped short of the multi year commitment Stoltenberg had sought.
Nato members also pledged to continue to support Ukraine “on its irreversible path to full Euro-atlantic integration, including Nato membership”.
US president, Joe Biden, who will host an event on support for Ukraine, has argued that Nato is “stronger than it’s ever been” and that Ukraine can and will stop Russian leader Putin “with our full, collective support.”
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Recap of key events from Wednesday at Nato summit
Also, in case you are catching up on yesterday’s key events from the Nato summit, here is a summary of the top lines via my colleagues on Wednesday’s live blog:
Summary from day two of the Nato summit on Wednesday:
The first F-16 fighter jets are on their way to Ukraine and will be flying sorties this summer, according to a statement from the Dutch and Danish governments. Dick Schoof, the prime minister of the Netherlands, and Mette Frederiksen, his counterpart from Denmark, said the “transfer process” of F-16s to Kyiv was under way after months of pilot training and political negotiations.
The long-awaited supply of F-16s is part of what Nato’s secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, said would be “a substantial package” of support for Ukraine, which includes the donation of four Patriot air defence systems, Nato-led training for Ukraine’s troops – and a commitment that Kyiv’s eventual path to Nato membership is “irreversible”.
Nato allies also criticised China, with stronger language than used before, for assisting Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, calling it a “decisive enabler” of the war by supporting Moscow in its “no limits” partnership, and supplying components for military equipment and chemicals for explosives.
Keir Starmer, the UK’s prime minister, said his new government will stick with plans to spend at least £3bn every year on military support for Ukraine for “as long as is it takes” in its conflict with Russia. After his first official bilateral talks with the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, at the Nato summit in Washington DC, Starmer confirmed the military aid would continue until at least 2030-31.
Britain will be “the leading European nation” in Nato under a Labour government, the new defence secretary, John Healey, pledged – though spending may have to rise significantly if the UK is to remain ahead of Germany.
The US will deploy long-range weapons to Germany in 2026 in an effort to demonstrate its commitment to Nato and European defence, the two countries announced.
Joe Biden, the US president, promised to defend Ukraine against the Russian invasion in remarks to Nato leaders. “We can and will defend every inch of Nato territory and we will do it together,” Biden told Nato leaders as they opened the first work session.
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Joe Biden hints UK should move closer to EU in Starmer meeting
Joe Biden has appeared to back Keir Starmer’s ambition for the UK having a closer relationship with the European Union as the leaders held their first bilateral talks at the White House.
The US president called the US and the UK the “best of allies” as he met the prime minister in the Oval Office, describing Britain as the “knot” that tied the transatlantic relationship together.
He suggested the closer the UK was with Europe, the tighter the knot would be. “I kind of see you guys as the knot tying the transatlantic alliance together, the closer you are with Europe,” he told Starmer.
Biden has long had a close interest in Brexit, repeatedly warning that peace in Northern Ireland must not be jeopardised as a result of complications caused by the UK’s decision to leave the EU.
Starmer has used the Nato summit in Washington DC to underline the UK’s commitment to the alliance, as well as to Ukraine, confirming that he will stick with plans to spend at least £3bn every year on military support to Kyiv for “as long as is it takes” in its conflict with Russia.
But he is also using the summit to build relationships with European leaders as he tries to seal an EU-UK security pact, and has been joined on the trip by Nick Thomas-Symonds, his minister for European relations.
At the bilateral meeting, Starmer congratulated Biden on hosting the 75th anniversary of the summit, hailing “a bigger Nato, a stronger Nato and a Nato with the resolve that we need”.
“The special relationship is so important. It’s forged in difficult circumstances, endured for so long, and stronger now than ever. I’m very pleased to be able to come so early in government to recommit to Nato, to recommit to the special relationship and to discuss these affairs with you.”
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China tells Nato not to create chaos in Asia and rejects label of 'enabler' of Russia's Ukraine war
China accused Nato on Thursday of seeking security at the expense of others and told the alliance not to bring the same “chaos” to Asia, reports the Associated Press (AP).
The statement by a foreign ministry spokesperson came a day after Nato labeled China a “decisive enabler” of Russia’s war against Ukraine.
“Nato hyping up China’s responsibility on the Ukraine issue is unreasonable and has sinister motives,” spokesperson Lin Jian said at a daily briefing. He maintained that China has a fair and objective stance on the Ukraine issue.
China has broken with the United States and its European allies over the war in Ukraine, refusing to condemn Russia’s invasion. Its trade with Russia has grown since the invasion, at least partially offsetting the impact of western sanctions.
Nato, in a communique issued at a summit in Washington DC, said China has become a enabler of the war through its “no-limits partnership” with Russia and its large-scale support for Russia’s defence industrial base.
According to the AP, Lin said that China’s trade with Russia is legitimate and reasonable and based on World Trade Organization rules.
He said that Nato’s “so-called security” comes at the cost of the security of other countries. China has backed Russia’s contention that Nato expansion posed a threat to Russia.
China has expressed concern about Nato’s budding relationships with countries in the region. Australia, New Zealand, Japan and South Korea sent their leaders or deputies to the Nato summit this week.
“China urges Nato to … stop interfering in China’s internal politics and smearing China’s image and not create chaos in the Asia-Pacific after creating turmoil in Europe,” Lin said.
The AP reports that Chinese troops are in Belarus this week for joint drills near the border with Poland, a Nato member. The exercises are the first-ever with Belarus, an ally of Russia.
Lin described the joint training as normal military exchange and cooperation that is not directed at any particular country.
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Welcome to the blog and today's agenda
Welcome to the latest Nato summit blog. It is 10.40am in London, where I’m blogging from, and 5.40am in Washington DC where, later, the leaders will arrive for the final day of the Nato summit.
China has accused Nato of seeking security at the expense of others and told the alliance not to bring the same “chaos” to Asia.
The Associated Press report that the statement from a foreign ministry spokesperson on Thursday came a day after Nato labelled China a “decisive enabler” of Russia’s war against Ukraine.
The spokesperson urged Nato to stop interfering in China’s internal politics and smearing China’s image. China has broken with the US and its European allies over the war in Ukraine, refusing to condemn Russia’s invasion. Its trade with Russia has grown since the invasion, at least partially offsetting the impact of western sanctions.
More on that in a moment, but first here is how the agenda looks for today:
7.30am EDT/12.30pm BST – Leaders arrive.
10am EDT/3pm BST – Meeting of the North Atlantic Council at the level of heads of state and government, Indo-Pacific partners and the EU. Nato secretary general Jens Stoltenberg will give opening remarks.
2pm EDT/7pm BST – Meeting of the Nato-Ukraine Council at the level of heads of state and government. Again public opening remarks will be given by Stoltenberg.
4.30pm EDT/9.30pm BST – Stoltenberg will give a press conference to media.
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