As the NATO summit in Washington focuses on Western efforts to rein in Russian President Vladimir Putin, Ukraine and its most ardent supporters within NATO have complained that NATO could do more to counter Russia.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and other leaders on the front lines with Russia have warned allies against softening their rhetoric, crossing their own red lines and holding back concrete commitments to deter and push back against Russian aggression in Ukraine and neighboring countries.
At the top of the list is getting Biden to lift restrictions on the use of weapons provided by the U.S. and its allies to strike military targets within 300 miles of Russian territory. Biden said in May that Ukraine could strike Russian territory near the Kharkiv region.
“If we have this very special weapon, and we have several of them, and we can use it on Russian territory, particularly on these military targets, then of course we can protect civilians, hospitals, schools, children,” Zelenskiy said during a conversation at the Reagan Institute in Washington on Tuesday night.
“But that’s not possible. Someone other than us has to say yes.”
The urgency of the demands was made clear this week by Russia’s attack on a children’s hospital in Kiev, part of a wave of attacks across the country, leaving more than 300 people reported injured, including eight children. Two adults, including a young doctor, were killed.
Footage from the aftermath showed doctors in blood-stained surgical scrubs, scores of volunteers helping to clear rubble from the bombing to reach people buried beneath it, and childhood cancer patients lined up outside with monitors and intravenous drips attached.
Officials from NATO allies said the attack was a clear signal to Russia that it would not be punished for attacking Ukraine.
“We know what Russia is doing. Last night in Kiev they bombed a children’s hospital,” Latvia’s parliament speaker Daiga Mielinja said in Washington. “Maybe you could say it was a mistake or a coincidence, but I think this is a clear signal that Russia is sending. You can talk all you want, but look at us, it’s a signal that we can do whatever we want.”
Allies have largely agreed on new military and financial aid pledges for Kiev that took months to draw up, but countries particularly along Russia’s border say the allies need to do more.
They criticize Congress for delaying aid to Ukraine by six months, want stronger language on commitments on Ukraine’s path to NATO membership, call for tripling financial commitments to Kyiv and want to confront head-on Russian obstructionism on NATO territory.
Baltic states have been warning for months that alleged Russian-backed sabotage poses a growing threat to Europe and its allies, including alleged GPS jamming, dismantling borders, hacking hospitals and attacking dissidents.
“Maybe the most important question as NATO countries is, do we accept that? Do we accept that they are now attacking us every day in Europe on various missions? And I think we should not accept that,” Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said.
In a signal that NATO is responding to those criticisms, a joint communique from this week’s summit committed the alliance to “develop” recommendations for countering Russian hybrid threats by the next summit.
NATO allies have been largely aligned in providing arms and financial support to Ukraine, including strengthening air defense systems and pledging more than $43 billion in allied aid to Ukraine through 2025.
The joint statement said Ukraine’s path to membership was “irreversible” and that the alliance would not allow it to join immediately for fear of provoking Putin.
Latvian President Edgars Rinkeviches said it sent a “very bad message” that it took Congress six months in April to pass President Biden’s request for more than $60 billion in additional aid for Ukraine.
He also called for removing the “red line” on allowing Ukraine to launch attacks inside Russia.
“If we provide weapons, equipment and ammunition, Ukraine must be able to use it without restrictions,” Rinkevich said. “This is not a NATO decision, but if we talk honestly and openly, and those countries that still have restrictions lift them, then maybe we will come closer to this kind of strategic perspective as well… and that is winning this war.”
These are restrictions imposed by the UK’s new Prime Minister, Keir Starmer. It is reported to have been released About the British Storm Shadow Missile.
And Estonian Defense Minister Hanno Pevkuru has been further alarmed by the uncertainty surrounding the U.S. presidential election and the possibility that former President Trump might halt aid to Ukraine, calling on allies to help raise $120 billion in aid for Ukraine through 2025.
“I want to see what the new administration does. There is $61 billion right now that will help Ukraine fight this year, but that’s just for this year,” he said. “What happens next year? We’ll see in November and January when the new president takes office.”
Concerns about a resurgent Trump presiding over his threat to withdraw from NATO or even an invitation to “Putin to do whatever he wants” to allies that have yet to meet their domestic defense spending quotas are also top of mind at the summit.
“I don’t know what he’ll do, I don’t know if he’ll be president of the United States… I need answers,” Zelensky said during a conversation at the Reagan Institute.
Sen. Jim Risch (R-Idaho), the ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, tried to reassure allies during a panel discussion Wednesday that the U.S. was complying with NATO’s Article 5 mutual defense agreement.
“Article 5 means exactly what it says. I have made that commitment now for the United States, and the United States intends to fulfill that commitment,” he said.
Still, they were not kept in the dark about Trump’s plans for Ukraine, as he repeatedly said he would end the war within a day of returning to the White House.
“At least one of the candidates says he’s going to end the war, but we haven’t been told how he’s going to do that,” Risch said, “But the candidates who say that usually do what they say they’re going to do, so I’m excited to see how that plays out.”
To avoid a public confrontation like the one that occurred at the 2023 Vilnius summit, the Biden administration has been preparing for months to tell Kyiv and its NATO allies not to expect an invitation to formally join the alliance by the end of the summit.
“There was a big gap between what Ukraine wanted and what NATO could offer, which meant both sides walked away dissatisfied and frustrated,” said Rachel Rizzo, nonresident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Europe Center.
“This year, Ukraine and NATO are more aligned in reality, meaning that membership is not on the agenda, but there is a greater willingness to institutionalize NATO to support Ukraine, something NATO was still grappling with last year.”
Many of these actions are seen as “anti-Trump” measures for NATO’s support for Ukraine, including shifting the U.S.-led system of coordinating arms donations among 50 countries under the NATO flag, NATO taking over training of the Ukrainian military, and establishing a NATO civilian presence in Kyiv.
These efforts are described as building a “bridge” to Ukraine’s membership in NATO.
Still, allies have used the summit to speak out about the need for Ukraine to eventually become a member.
“We have already decided that Ukraine’s future is in NATO… and now we must take practical steps to show that it is credible and that the path to membership is getting shorter, not longer,” said Iceland’s Foreign Minister Thordis Kolbrun Reykfjord Gylfadottir.
“They’re literally fighting for their lives to have that future. We say it’s an open door policy. Your fight is our fight.” [delivering] They are doing what we have already said and demonstrating every day that they are ready.”
