Russia’s invasion has dominated previous meetings, but keeping President Trump happy was the focus at the gathering this week. Ukraine was largely shunted to the sidelines.

Russia’s bombardment of Ukrainian people and infrastructure shaped Zelenskyy’s goals at the summit, where the main focus was on air defence.

As NATO leaders convened in The Hague for a two-day summit on June 24–25, allies and Kyiv braced for the first annual meeting since U.S. President Donald Trump’s return to office. With the srael-Iranian conflict dominating the news and the summit agenda focused on the new 5% defense spending target,