NATO Summit Opens in Ankara as Trump Flies In
The alliance’s first Turkish-hosted summit opened today, with President Trump arriving this afternoon for a bilateral with President Erdogan and a leaders’ dinner tonight, before tomorrow’s working session and his meetings with President Zelensky and Syria’s President Sharaa. Washington is pressing allies to reach the 5% of GDP spending target “as soon as possible”. Of Putin, Trump said after their weekend call: “I think he does feel pressure… Putin wants it to end, I will tell you that very strongly.”
The summit’s substance is compressed into Wednesday: the working session, the Zelensky meeting after a weekend in which Russia killed at least 22 across Ukraine, and promised “billions of dollars in announcements” whose composition — interceptors versus intentions — will decide how the week is judged in Kyiv. The American posture was set by its NATO ambassador in a phrase that will follow the alliance around: “We’re not going away, we’re just doing less.” Across town, a Paris court was delivering its verdict on Marine Le Pen’s election ban as this edition was published — Europe’s week concentrated into a single day. Watch tonight’s dinner readouts and tomorrow’s bilaterals.