The final communiqué of the NATO summit, which will be held in June in The Hague, is planned to be significantly shortened. Moreover, it will probably not mention Ukraine at all.
Radio Liberty writes about this.
The NATO summit is being organized in a way that will win the approval of the US President Donald Trump and avoid large-scale conflicts. In particular, it has already been shortened from three to two days.
The summit’s final communiqué is also being significantly shortened. NATO officials say the goal is to limit the final document to just three or four paragraphs — a stark contrast to previous summits. The 2024 Washington summit declaration consisted of 40 paragraphs, while the Vilnius summit communiqué last year stretched to 90, covering a wide range of issues.
This yearʼs text may not mention Russia at all — and perhaps even Ukraine — which will make the meeting in The Hague very different from previous summits.
In Washington and Vilnius, the agenda was almost entirely focused on Ukraine — with heated debates over whether to extend an invitation to membership and how to determine its future path to joining the Alliance.
Given that Trump appears to be ruling out Ukraineʼs NATO membership in the near future, one European official told Radio Liberty that it might be better not to mention Ukraine at all in the final declaration — at least for now.
Any attempt to agree on wording could result in an even weaker statement than the one adopted in Washington in 2024, where NATO at least pledged to continue supporting Kyiv “on its irreversible path to full Euro-Atlantic integration, including NATO membership.”
It also raises questions about whether Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will be invited to the Netherlands after he was the chief guest at previous summits. There is currently no confirmation of his invitation, although most NATO officials believe he will come eventually. At the same time, the Italian news agency ANSA reported that the United States is opposed to Zelenskyʼs invitation.
While the Ukrainian president is still expected to visit, he is unlikely to receive a separate NATO-Ukraine Council meeting, as was the case at the two previous summits. The Alliance is now focusing largely on domestic issues again.
- The NATO summit is scheduled for June 24-26 in the Netherlands. ANSA reported that the Netherlands wants to keep the agenda of the summit in The Hague as short as possible to minimize potential disputes with US President Donald Trump. The plan for the event will include a dinner hosted by the royal family for the leaders and one meeting dedicated to increasing military spending and finalizing the Allianceʼs capability goals.
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