THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — leaders met Wednesday to agree a significant boost in defense spending, spurred by Russia’s military buildup and . President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine could only look on from the sidelines.
His country, at war with Russia since the Kremlin’s invasion in 2022, has been front and center at recent NATO summits. But as the alliance’s latest annual meeting of leaders opened in The Hague, Zelenskyy was not in the room.
Instead, he scheduled a series of face-to-face meetings with leaders at the summit venue, including with President Donald Trump, who had a major with Zelenskyy earlier this year at the White House.
“Well, we’ll discuss the obvious. We’ll discuss his difficulty. He’s got a little difficulty, Zelenskyy,” Trump told reporters before joining the summit. “He’s a nice guy. I mean, I’m going to meet him today. I don’t know, I assume we’re going to be discussing Ukraine.”
Trump’s administration has .
The conflict with Russia has laid waste to Ukrainian towns and killed thousands of civilians. Just last week, Russia launched drone attacks of the war.
Russian leaders and military brass have been accused of war crimes including targeting civilian infrastructure in Ukraine. The International Criminal Court, based in The Hague, has issued an for Russian President Vladimir Putin on charges of involvement in abducting Ukrainian children. Putin denies the charges.
Zelenskyy spent Tuesday in The Hague shuttling from meeting to meeting. He got a pledge from summit host the Netherlands for military aid, including new drones and radars to help knock out Russian drones.
announced that the United Kingdom will provide 350 air defense missiles to Ukraine, funded by 70 million pounds ($95 million) raised from the interest on seized Russian assets.
On the question of Ukraine, the position of NATO has not changed,” Starmer told reporters. “While we work to lower the temperature in the Middle East, we will not for a moment lose focus on Ukraine.”
Starmer also denied Ukraine had been sidelined. “In my discussions with leaders there’s been a real resolve that now is the time to push again to get Putin to the table for the unconditional ceasefire.”
Zelenskyy dined Tuesday night at Dutch King Willem-Alexander’s Huis Ten Bosch palace with NATO leaders, Zelenskyy sat with Dutch Queen Maxima while Trump was with the king.
On Wednesday, as the NATO leaders met, Zelenskyy scheduled more meetings to keep his nation’s battle at the forefront of the alliance’s thoughts.
Later in the day, Zelenskyy was traveling to France to sign off on plans to set up a to prosecute those accused of orchestrating Russia’s war.
The special tribunal will target the senior Russian leaders who launched the full-scale invasion, the initial “crime of aggression” that underlies the countless atrocities Ukraine accuses Russian forces of committing.
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Associated Press writer Jill Lawless in London and Molly Quell London contributed to this report.
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