Latest news with #EuropeanAllies
Yahoo
11-07-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Russia launches more strikes, damages Ukrainian maternity hospital, officials say
Russian strikes against Ukraine persisted overnight and reportedly injured at least nine people and caused damage to a maternity hospital, according to officials. This comes as President Volodymyr Zelenskyy meets with European allies in Rome. CBS News' Ramy Inocencio reports.
American Military News
26-06-2025
- Politics
- American Military News
NATO Summit takeaways: Praise for Trump, Article 5 tensions, and Ukraine sidestepped
This article was originally published by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and is reprinted with permission. NATO leaders agreed to a sharp increase in defense spending at their June 25 summit in The Hague, delivering a big win for US President Donald Trump while reaffirming their 'ironclad commitment' to come to each other's aid if attacked. Here are the main takeaways from the meeting. Trump Flattery As head of the military alliance, NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte really had just one task at his first summit, which was held in his hometown, The Hague: to make sure that Trump was on board and didn't cause any ruckus similar to the 2018 Brussels meeting, where he nearly pulled the United States out of the club. And it's fair to say that Rutte doubled down on his task. In fact, ahead of the meeting, Trump shared on social media a glowing private message from Rutte, in which the NATO chief credited him for increased European defense spending and for his 'extraordinary' strikes on Iran. When quizzed by reporters on this, Rutte was unabashed and continued with the praise, calling Trump 'daddy' in a joint press statement and hailing the US president once again at the start of the summit's working session. 'Your leadership on this has already produced one trillion dollars in extra spending from European Allies since 2016,' he told Trump. 'And the decisions today will produce trillions more for our common defense.' The US president seemed pleased, posting enthusiastically about the summit dinner hosted by the Dutch king and queen. The flattery clearly worked: the final summit declaration was signed off on without incident, and it included strong language identifying Russia as a 'long-term threat' to Euro-Atlantic security and reaffirming commitment to Article 5, NATO's mutual defense clause. Still Doubts About Article 5? The cornerstone of the military alliance is Article 5, stating that an attack on one of the 32 NATO allies is an attack on all. And despite assurances from various US officials in the run-up to the summit that the United States was totally committed to it, Trump appeared to throw a curveball when speaking to the media before jetting out to the Netherlands by stating that 'there are numerous definitions of Article 5.' This made European diplomats pulses race for a while. Speaking to RFE/RL under condition of anonymity, they pointed out that there is only one definition, but that there could be different definitions of what types of 'assistance' allies must provide in the event of another ally being attacked. Article 5 has only been triggered once in NATO's 76-year history — by the United States after the 9/11 attacks. This led to the war in Afghanistan, although not all NATO members put boots on the ground there. In the end, Trump appeared to tone down his previous statement by noting in his press briefing with the secretary-general that 'we are with them all the way' while referring to other NATO partners. 5 Percent Spending On Defense — A Realistic Target? This was the one decision taken in the Hague. The 32 allies committed to a new defense spending target — in 2035 they should all devote 5 percent of GDP to defense. Of this, 3.5 percent must go to core defense spending and the remaining 1.5 percent should be spent on various things, including boosting critical infrastructure, ensuring civil preparedness, and propping up Ukraine. Now, the question, of course, is if they will actually manage to meet this target. The final summit declaration alludes to a review in 2029 — a year in which Trump should have left the White House. Allies, such as Spain, complained ahead of the summit about how unrealistic the target is. Madrid was mollified by some linguistic wizardry — instead of noting that NATO members 'commit to invest 5%,' the wording that was agreed upon reads: 'allies commit to invest 5%.' It seems this subtle word change apparently gives some leeway on how the target can be interpreted. Is it a Spanish opt-out? Probably not, but time will tell. Don't be surprised, however, if this 'Hague pledge' ends up the same way as the 'Wales pledge' agreed in 2014. Back then, the goal was to reach 2 percent of GDP defense spending by 2024. A handful NATO countries have still not reached that goal to this day. Ukraine NATO Membership Clearly Off The Table The NATO summits in Vilnius in 2023 and Washington in 2024 were about one thing: finding ways — verbal or otherwise — to bring Ukraine closer to the military alliance without offering an outright invitation to join. There was talk of 'bridges' to membership and that Ukraine's path to the club was 'irreversible.' Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was the most sought-after person at these gatherings, where he pushed the allies to do more both militarily and diplomatically for his war-torn country. What a difference a year makes. Trump made it clear early in his presidency that Ukraine would not be joining NATO any time soon, and the question has simply faded away. At the Hague summit there was not even a NATO-Ukraine Council, meaning Zelenskyy had to content himself with attending various side events and the social summit dinner with spouses. There was no language on membership in the Hague declaration, the shortest summit statement on record. The only reference to Kyiv in the five paragraphs was a brief passage that said 'allies reaffirm their enduring sovereign commitments to provide support to Ukraine, whose security contributes to ours, and, to this end, will include direct contributions towards Ukraine's defense and its defense industry when calculating Allies' defense spending.' It was quite telling that — when Zelenskyy gave press comments alongside Rutte and the EU's Antonio Costa and Ursula von der Leyen — there wasn't a single word about Ukrainian membership. Once again, NATO is now all about collective defense, not adding new members.
Malay Mail
26-06-2025
- Business
- Malay Mail
Trump hails ‘monumental win' as Nato agrees to hike defence spending to 5pc of GDP
THE HAGUE, June 26 — Nato countries agreed Wednesday to massively ramp up their defence spending to satisfy US President Donald Trump, who hailed it as a 'monumental win' for America — and reaffirmed his country's commitment to protect its European allies. Trump cut a jubilant figure after Nato's 32 countries agreed to his headline target of five per cent of GDP on defence spending following two days of talks in The Hague. Taking credit for a 'fantastic' outcome that 'no one really thought possible', Trump described the spending hike as 'a monumental win for the United States'. Trump also signed off on a final declaration confirming an 'ironclad commitment' to Nato's collective defence pledge that an attack on one is an attack on all — a reassuring move for European countries worried about Russia. The US leader has repeatedly suggested Washington could withhold protection from European countries unwilling to spend more on defence. The compromise hatched by Nato sees countries promise to dedicate 3.5 per cent of GDP to core military spending by 2035, and a further 1.5 to broader security-related areas such as infrastructure. Spain had been refusing to agree and while it signed the pledge it has said it thinks it can fulfil Nato's demands while spending less — Trump threatening on Wednesday to hit its trade interests in response. But the pledge endorsed in The Hague allows Trump to claim triumph, while in practice providing wiggle room for cash-strapped governments in Europe. 'Couldn't have been nicer' Everything was choreographed at the gathering to keep the volatile US president on board: from chopping back the official part of the meeting, to putting him up overnight in the royal palace. Underpinning the leaders' discussions on defence was Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, with the summit's final statement referring to the 'long-term threat posed by Russia to Euro-Atlantic security'. Though its language was watered down from previous years, the declaration also said allies would continue to support Ukraine, 'whose security contributes to ours', and allies will be allowed to use money from the new pledge for military aid for Kyiv. Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky played a less central role than at previous summits — with leaders wary of any embarrassment after an infamous row with Trump during a visit to the Oval Office. But the US president did meet the war-torn country's leader on the summit sidelines, declaring afterwards the encounter 'couldn't have been nicer' and Zelensky hailing a 'substantive' meeting. Trump also said he was talking to Russian President Vladimir Putin about the war, adding: 'I think progress is being made.' British Prime Minister Keir Starmer also met Zelensky along with a group of other European leaders, saying afterwards he hoped to 'use the momentum from the summit to continue to step up support for Ukraine'. Nato chief Mark Rutte, also present at the Starmer meeting, renewed a promise that Ukraine's bid for membership remained 'irreversible', but the summit statement avoided any mention of Kyiv's push to join after Trump ruled it out. 'Not a rip-off' Trump had rattled allies on the summit's eve by appearing to cast some doubt on the validity of Nato's mutual defence clause — known as Article Five of the alliance treaty. But the pledge was reaffirmed unequivocally in the summit's final statement — and Trump drove the point home at his closing press conference. 'I came here because it was something I'm supposed to be doing,' Trump said in closing remarks to the press, when pressed on the mutual defence clause known as Article Five. 'But I left here a little bit differently,' said the US leader — who was visibly delighted at the red carpet welcome and the praise lavished on him by Nato's Rutte among others. 'Without the United States, they couldn't really have Nato. Wouldn't work,' Trump said. 'It will in the future, because now they're paying much more money.' — AFP
Bloomberg
25-06-2025
- Business
- Bloomberg
Trump Sets US-Iran Talks for Next Week as He Views War ‘Over'
Good morning. US and Iran are set to meet next week as Trump calls war 'over.' Sneaker makers are innovating after a tough run in 2025. Ferrari has the wind at its back with a move into sailing. Listen to the day's top stories. In Donald Trump's view, the war between Israel and Iran is 'over' —except for the part where he also warned that new fighting 'could maybe start soon.' The US and Iran will be meeting next week but the president cast doubt on the need for a diplomatic agreement on Tehran's nuclear program, citing the damage that American bombing had done to key sites. At the NATO summit in The Hague, Trump achieved one of his main objectives: getting member nations to agree to increase defense spending to 5% of their gross domestic products. But it was no one-sided victory: The European allies and Secretary General Mark Rutte used royal pomp and flattery on the president to ensure the US renewed its commitments to collective defense. Trump threatened Spain with a doubling of tariffs after it balked at the higher military spending.
Miami Herald
25-06-2025
- Business
- Miami Herald
NATO to spend trillions more, Trump reaffirms U.S. defense guarantee
June 25 (UPI) -- U.S. President Donald Trump reassured NATO allies Wednesday that the United States was fully committed to the defense alliance's so-called Article 5 under which members pledge to come to the military defense of any NATO country that is attacked. "We're with them all the way," Trump told a joint briefing with Secretary General Mark Rutte at a NATO summit in The Hague, responding to a question on his commitment to NATO and the mutual defense pact at its heart. Trump added that he was happy to commit because other members of the 32-country alliance had heeded his long-standing call to ramp up their defense budgets and would now meet his demand that they spend 5% of GDP on defense. "If you look at the numbers, I've been asking them to go up to 5% for a number of years and they're going up to 5%. That's a big jump from 2% and a lot of people didn't even pay the 2%, so I think it's going to be very big news. NATO is going to become very strong with us and I appreciate doing it," he said. Earlier, Trump sparked consternation after comments made mid-Atlantic aboard Air Force One on Tuesday that his commitment to Article 5 "depends on your definition." The situation in the Middle East dominated most of the rest of the briefing, setting the tone for a gathering that alternated between shows of NATO unity and discussion of the U.S. strikes on Iran and how the situation would play out, despite not being on the agenda. That left little room for the issue of Ukraine, which was relegated well down the agenda. In his opening remarks to the leaders' session Rutte did set out the challenges facing NATO, from Russia's war on Ukraine and China's "massive" military build-up to conflict in the Middle East, but hailed what he said were the historic, transformative decisions that would be made at the meeting to "make our people safer through a stronger, fairer and more lethal NATO." He said the additional funds from the 5% spending commitment would go toward bolstering "core" hard defense expenditure, as well as defense and security-related investments, and ensure every country contributed their fair share to the security umbrella NATO provided. "For too long, one Ally, the United States, carried too much of the burden of that commitment. And that changes today," Rutte said. "President Trump, dear Donald, you made this change possible. Your leadership on this has already produced $1 trillion in extra spending from European Allies since 2016. And the decisions today will produce trillions more for our common defenses, to make us stronger and fairer by equalising spending between America and America's allies." Shortly after the meeting ended, the NATO heads of state and government issued a joint communique reaffirming their commitment to NATO, the transatlantic bond and "ironclad commitment to collective defense as enshrined in Article 5" of the 1947 Washington Treaty. "An attack on one is an attack on all." It said the leaders were united in the face of "profound security threats and challenges", in particular the long-term threat posed by Russia to Euro-Atlantic security and the persistent threat of terrorism allies had therefore committed to invest 5% of GDP in defense annually by 2035. "Our investments will ensure we have the forces, capabilities, resources, infrastructure, warfighting readiness, and resilience needed to deter and defend in line with our three core tasks of deterrence and defence, crisis prevention and management, and cooperative security," the declaration stated. Members also reaffirmed a joint pledge to accelerate efforts to ramp up transatlantic defense-industrial cooperation, harness new technology and embrace out-of-the-box thinking on defense, as well as working to remove defense trade barriers between allies. Copyright 2025 UPI News Corporation. All Rights Reserved.
