World leaders have flown into America for the two-day Nato summit.
The UK’s new Prime Minister Keir Starmer has joined leaders including Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy and other heads of state from across Europe and North America in what is expected to be a crucial meeting.
The meeting is expected to see an agreement for enhanced military support for Ukraine amid warnings that Russia could step up missile strikes on Ukraine this week, repeating a barrage that killed at least 38 on Monday.
Sir Keir said that for his first appearance on the world stage, he wanted to send a “very clear” message to Vladimir Putin that the Nato summit is an opportunity for allies to stand together against Russian aggression.
He flew to Washington on Tuesday evening with his wife Victoria, after addressing a new cohort of 643 MPs in the House of Commons for the first time as prime minister.
Before departing at Stansted Airport, Sir Keir said: “My message is very, very clear. This Nato summit is an opportunity for allies to stand together, to strengthen their resolve, particularly in light of that appalling attack, against Russian aggression,” he said, referring to Russian missile attacks on Monday that damaged the country’s largest children’s hospital.
The summit is expected to agree on more military aid for Ukraine, including at least four additional Patriot air defence systems and progress on supplying F-16 fighters, to help Kyiv better fend off devastating Russian attacks.
US President Joe Biden opened the summit - Nato’s 75th - by announcing the plans to supply new air defences to Ukraine.
He told world leaders that “Nato is more powerful than ever” - highlighting the “expansion of the alliance under his watch”.
But what is Nato and which countries are members?
What is Nato?
Nato – the North Atlantic Treaty Organization – is a political and military alliance formed of 32 mostly European countries, as well as the US and Canada.
The heart of the Nato alliance is Article 5, an agreement that an armed attack on one member will be viewed as an attack on all, and that they are obliged to defend one another.
Nato was formed by 12 countries in 1949 to counter the threat of post-war communist Russian expansion in Europe. In 1955, Soviet Russia responded to Nato’s formation by creating its own military alliance of eastern European communist countries, called the Warsaw Pact.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, several former Warsaw Pact countries switched sides and became Nato members.
Nato does not have its own armed forces. Instead, it has a military command structure that works with the militaries of member countries in peacekeeping operations.
Nato members’ list
Nato comprises of 32 nations, including many European countries and the US and Canada.
The founding members were:
- Belgium
- Canada
- Denmark
- France
- Iceland
- Italy
- Luxembourg
- The Netherlands
- Norway
- Portugal
- the UK
- the US
Members who have joined since are:
- Albania (2009)
- Bulgaria (2004)
- Croatia (2009)
- Czech Republic (1999)
- Estonia (2004)
- Finland (2023)
- Germany (1955)
- Greece (1952)
- Hungary (1999)
- Latvia (2004)
- Lithuania (2004)
- Montenegro (2017)
- North Macedonia (2020)
- Poland (1999)
- Romania (2004)
- Slovakia (2004)
- Slovenia (2004)
- Spain (1982)
- Sweden (2024)
- Turkey (1952)
Is Ukraine in NATO?
Ukraine is not a NATO member. Ukraine is a NATO partner country, which means that it cooperates closely with NATO but it is not covered by the security guarantee in the Alliance's founding treaty.
Why does Russia want to block Ukraine from joining Nato?
Russia vehemently opposes Ukraine’s potential membership of Nato. It has demanded a formal veto on it ever becoming a member – something the alliance has refused to agree to.
Russia fears Nato has been encroaching on it by taking on new members in Eastern Europe. It said that admitting Ukraine would bring Nato forces into its backyard. Nato denies that this is a valid concern since it is a peacekeeping alliance.
In December 2021, Mr Putin said Russia would seek “reliable and long-term security guarantees” from the US and its allies “that would exclude any further Nato moves eastward and the deployment of weapons systems that threaten us in close vicinity to Russian territory”.
More broadly, Mr Putin wants Nato to pull back its existing military presence in eastern Europe. This includes a regularly rotating series of exercises in Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, all former Soviet states.
Six Nato countries currently border Russia or the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad: Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway and Poland.
