Updates: NATO members agree on higher defence spending target

Thanks for joining today’s live page following the NATO summit hosted in The Hague, Netherlands.

Read the full story about the meeting here.

We also reported on Trump’s meeting with Ukraine’s Zelenskyy on the sidelines, here.

Or watch our video below on how the Iran-Israel conflict dominated the gathering.

This live page will soon be closed. Here are some of today’s highlights:

• NATO leaders agreed to a massive increase in individual defence spending, in what the bloc’s chief, Mark Rutte, hailed as a “quantum leap”.
• But not all countries were happy. Spain’s prime minister said its current spending of 2 percent of its GDP was “sufficient, realistic and compatible with the welfare state”.
• Trump, in turn, threatened to make Spain pay higher costs in a bilateral trade deal.
• The Israel-Iran conflict loomed large. After some NATO leaders, including the chief of the alliance, heaped praise on Trump for US strikes on Iran, Tehran’s top diplomat condemned Mark Rutte.

Read the full story here.

The Ukrainian leader has had a contentious relationship with the US president, with Trump accusing Zelenskyy of holding up a ceasefire agreement with Russia shortly after taking office in January.

But with Russia continuing to take a hard line, Trump has softened towards Zelenskyy in recent weeks.

During their meeting, Zelenskyy said he congratulated Trump on US strikes on Iran, noting that Tehran provides drones used by Russia in its invasion of Ukraine.

He also discussed “the purchase of American air defence systems to shield our cities, our people, churches, and infrastructure”, he said in a post on X.

Zelenskyy added he updated Trump on the latest talks between Russian and Ukrainian delegations in Istanbul in early June.

“We talked about the situation on the battlefield. Putin is definitely not winning,” Zelenskyy added.

I had a good meeting with @POTUS in The Hague.

I congratulated President Trump on the successful operation in the Middle East. It is important that the U.S. actions have weakened not only their nuclear program but also their drone production capabilities. We will continue to… pic.twitter.com/pzoaBSn0Yi

— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) June 25, 2025

The US president has departed The Hague, but one question has encapsulated the atypical tone of today’s NATO meeting.

Speaking to reporters earlier today, Trump was asked if he considers members of the alliance to be his “children”.

That came after NATO chief Rutte referred to Trump as “daddy” in describing his handling of the Israel-Iran ceasefire.

It also strikes at the outsized influence the US – and the Trump administration, in particular – has asserted on the bloc, notably when it comes to pushing for more spending commitments from smaller members.

“No,” Trump responded, pivoting to Rutte. “He likes me. I think he likes me.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and United States President Donald Trump have held talks on the sidelines of the NATO summit in The Hague, with sanctions on Russia over its war in Ukraine, now in its fourth year, and arms procurement for Kyiv on the agenda.

Read the full story on that meeting here.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been speaking to reporters following the summit.

He said that there were “positive developments” with the United Kingdom and Germany regarding Turkiye’s effort to buy Eurofighter Typhoon jets.

Germany had reportedly blocked the sale, which Ankara has been seeking for years, over concerns about the arrest of Istanbul’s mayor in March.

The jets are built by a consortium of Germany, the UK, Italy and Spain. Turkiye has sought to diversify its air force, which currently relies heavily on US equipment.

Erdogan also said he discussed the possible purchase of F-35 fighter jets with Trump. Washington has blocked the sale of the jets since 2020, after Turkiye purchased Russian S-400 missile defence systems.

Speaking to Al Jazeera, Yusuf Alabarda, a military analyst and former NATO officer, said the recent US bombing of Iran – and the large shadow it has cast over Wednesday’s meeting – underscores that the scope of the alliance should be reconsidered.

Alabarda noted that NATO, which was founded in 1949, “to create a security umbrella for both sides of the Atlantic”. But regions like the Middle East and Asia Pacific have since taken on an increased significance to countries in the bloc.

“NATO’s role should be rewritten again, because the DNA of the world is changing rapidly,” Alabarda said.

“The threats are coming from elsewhere. For that reason, should NATO be focused only on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean? Or should they cover all kind of new threats from all of the corners of the world?”

Here are the latest updates:

• NATO members agreed to increase defence spending to 5 percent of their gross domestic product (GDP) per year by 2035, including at least 3.5 percent in core defence requirements per year.
• Iran’s top diplomat condemned NATO chief Mark Rutte for praising US strikes on Iran’s nuclear facility, saying one who “supports a crime is regarded as complicit”.
• Trump addressed the bloc, praising US military strength and again vowing to procure a long elusive ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine.
• French President Macron said NATO’s new target was in response to the threat from Russia, but also pointed to spending limitations caused by Trump’s trade war.

US President Donald Trump has slammed Spain, saying the United States will make Madrid “pay twice as much” for a trade deal after its refusal to meet a NATO defence spending target of five percent of gross domestic product.

Ahead of the NATO summit, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez sent a letter to NATO chief Mark Rutte voicing concern over suggestions to meet the target increase.

“Committing to a 5 percent target would not only be unreasonable but also counterproductive because it would move Spain further away from optimal spending and would hinder the EU’s ongoing efforts to strengthen its security and defence ecosystem,” he said.

On Tuesday, on a plane to The Hague, Trump lashed out about Spain.

“There’s a problem with Spain. Spain is not agreeing, which is very unfair to the rest of them, frankly.”

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer says NATO’s support for Ukraine is still ironclad, despite the Russia-Ukraine war not being a huge topic of discussion during the summit.

“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.”

He denied the country 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.”

Supporting NATO’s call for a defence spending hike, he said: “This is the moment to unite, for Europe to make a fundamental shift in its posture and for NATO to meet this challenge head on.”

• NATO’s Secretary General Mark Rutte has said that the alliance will continue to support Ukraine on its “irreversible path to membership”. He’s also said that Russia was a threat both in the short and long term.
• Rutte also mentioned that it can “safely be assumed” that the military aid for Ukraine this year will be more than last year’s 50 billion euros ($58bn).
• US President Donald Trump has said he will meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on the sidelines of the NATO summit. “We’ll discuss the obvious,” Trump said. “We’ll discuss his difficulties.”
• Hungarian PM Viktor Orban said that Russia is not “strong enough to represent a real threat to NATO” as the alliance is “far stronger”. He added that “the real threat to Europe is losing its competitiveness, and said NATO “has no business in Ukraine.”
• “Russia does not only threaten Ukraine, Russia threatens the peace and the political order on this entire continent,” Germany’s Chancellor Friedrich Merz told reporters.

Poland is on track towards ensuring its security from Russian threats, Polish President Andrzej Duda has said, after NATO agreed to increase defence spending.

“We are really on a very, very good path to ensuring our full security,” Duda said.

“One part of this security is us, it is our potential, it is the Polish army … but on the other hand, it is also our presence in the North Atlantic [Treaty] Alliance and the guarantees that the alliance gives us.”

Speaking about the US military, Trump has said that the country has “reasserted the credibility of the American deterrence, which is like no other”.

“The people at NATO said there’s never been anything [like it],” he said. “We have a great military, we have great generals.”

“Out of 14 high-end missiles that were shot at the base in Qatar, all 14 have been shut down, as you know, by our equipment,” he said.

In budget, firepower, and global presence, the US surpasses all other militaries – including China, which leads in troop numbers, and Russia, which holds the largest nuclear arsenal.

The Pentagon does not publish official data on its bases, but according to Vine’s research, the US maintains more than 750 military bases abroad across roughly 80 countries.

As the NATO summit continues, protesters have gathered at a spot they renamed “Gaza beach”.

Despite roadblocks and heavy security, dozens managed to attend. Watch more here:

Donald Trump’s second US presidency is “upending European opinion, vis-a-vis defence and security, and forcing citizens to accept that they must prepare for a world at war”, according to a poll published today by the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR).

The ECFR found that there is “widespread” support in Europe for increases in defence spending, particularly in Poland, Denmark, the United Kingdom, Estonia and Portugal. Europeans fear the breakout of nuclear conflict over a Russian attack on NATO territory, the poll found.

“Trump’s hostility towards Europe has given rise to anti-American sentiment,” the organisation said in a statement. “This is particularly true in Denmark and Portugal. In the UK, and Germany, majorities also think the US system is broken, and, even in traditionally pro-American Poland, the share of citizens sharing this view has risen since November 2020.

“Trump’s return to power appears to have driven an outbreak of ‘political cross-dressing’ in Europe. Supporters of populist parties are no longer exclusively against the status quo – they are now in favour of the Trumpian counter-project.

“And those who back mainstream parties are no longer simply in favour of the status quo – they are now increasingly drawing energy from being defenders of national sovereignty against Trump.”

The survey also found that Europeans are committed to Ukraine.

Trump has made more comments about Israel and Iran at the NATO’s news conference ending his participation at the summit.

“Both Israel and Iran are tired,” Trump said. “[They’re] both satisfied to go home and get out.”

“We think that it’s over. I don’t think they’d be going back at each other,” Trump added.

The leaders of Japan, Australia, and South Korea are skipping this year’s NATO summit, opting to send deputies or senior officials instead.

While these countries are not NATO members, they are regular invitees as key partners.

Among the group, only New Zealand’s Prime Minister Christopher Luxon confirmed his attendance.

Iran has reacted with outrage to NATO chief Mark Rutte’s praise of US President Donald Trump for the attacks on Iranian nuclear facilities.

“It is disgraceful, despicable and irresponsible for [NATO’s secretary-general] to congratulate a ‘truly extraordinary’ criminal act of aggression against a sovereign state,” Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei wrote on the X platform.

“[The one] who endorses an injustice lacks integrity. [The one] who supports a crime is regarded as complicit.”

At the start of his joint remarks with Trump, Rutte said earlier on Wednesday, “I just want to recognise your decisive action on Iran. You are a man of strength, but you are also a man of peace.”

While travelling to the Netherlands for the summit, Trump posted several messages from Rutte on Truth Social, in which the NATO leader voiced support for the president’s actions against Iran.

“Mr President, dear Donald, Congratulations and thank you for your decisive action in Iran, that was truly extraordinary, and something no one else dared to do. It makes us all safer,” one of the messages read.