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from https://apnews.com/article/nato-ukraine-zelenskyy-trump-iran-israel-rutte-1cdf87daa23ac024ae050fed9b7b8c49

NATO chief praises Trump for making Europe ‘pay in a BIG way’ on defense ahead of summit
By MOLLY QUELL, LORNE COOK and MIKE CORDER
Updated 12:34 PM PDT, June 24, 2025
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THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte praised President Donald Trump for making Europe “pay in a BIG way,” as leaders gathered in the Netherlands on Tuesday for a historic summit that could
unite them around a new defense spending pledge or widen divisions among
the 32 member countries of the security alliance.

The U.S. president, while en route, published a screenshot of a private
message from Rutte saying: “Donald, you have driven us to a really,
really important moment for America and Europe and the world. You will
achieve something NO American president in decades could get done.”

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte arrives ahead of a formal dinner at
the Paleis Huis ten Bosch ahead of the NATO summit in The Hague,
Netherlands, Tuesday, June 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte arrives ahead of a formal dinner at
the Paleis Huis ten Bosch ahead of the NATO summit in The Hague,
Netherlands, Tuesday, June 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)

“Europe is going to pay in a BIG way, as they should, and it will be
your win,” Rutte wrote. NATO confirmed that he sent the message.

Rutte appeared unconcerned that Trump aired it, telling reporters: “I
have absolutely no trouble or problem with that because there’s nothing
in it which had to stay secret.”

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Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy arrives ahead of a formal dinner
at the Paleis Huis ten Bosch ahead of the NATO summit in The Hague, Netherlands, Tuesday, June 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)
U
Trump arrived early in the evening after injecting uncertainty over
whether the U.S. would abide by the mutual defense guarantees outlined
in the NATO treaty. “Depends on your definition,” he said. Rutte said he has no doubt about the Article 5 guarantee, which says an armed attack
on one member is an attack on all.

President Donald Trump exits Air Force One as he arrives at Amsterdam
Schiphol Airport ahead of the NATO summit, taking place in The Hague, Netherlands, Tuesday, June 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

On Wednesday, the allies are likely to endorse a goal of spending 5% of
their gross domestic product on their security, to be able to fulfil the alliance’s plans for defending against outside attack. Trump has said
the U.S. should not have to.

Spain has said it cannot, and that the target is “unreasonable.”
Slovakia said it reserves the right to decide how to reach the target by NATO’s new 2035 deadline.

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

In 2018, a NATO summit during Trump’s first term unraveled due to a
dispute over defense spending.

Ahead of the meeting, Britain, France and Germany committed to the 5%
goal. The Netherlands is also on board. Nations closer to the borders of Ukraine, Russia and its ally Belarus had previously pledged to do so.

From left, France's President Emmanuel Macron, Germany's Chancellor
Friedrich Merz and Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer pose as they
meet on the sidelines of the two-day NATO's Heads of State and
Government summit in The Hague, Tuesday, June 24, 2025. (Ben
Stansall/Pool Photo via AP)

Trump’s first appearance at NATO since returning to the White House was supposed to center on how the U.S. secured the historic military
spending pledge from others in the alliance — effectively bending it to
its will.

President Donald Trump climbs the stairs to the Paleis Huis ten Bosch
ahead of the NATO summit in The Hague, Netherlands, Tuesday, June 24,
2025. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
P
President Donald Trump, right, is welcomed by Netherland's King Willem Alexander, Netherland's Queen Maxima and Netherland's Crown Princess
Amalia as he arrives for a formal dinner at the Paleis Huis ten Bosch
ahead of the NATO summit in The Hague, Netherlands, Tuesday, June 24,
2025. (Misha Schoemakers, Pool Photo via AP)

But the spotlight has shifted to Trump’s decision to strike three
nuclear enrichment facilities in Iran that the administration says
eroded Tehran’s nuclear ambitions, as well as the president’s sudden announcement that Israel and Iran had reached a “complete and total ceasefire.”

Ukraine has also suffered as a result of that new conflict. It has
created a need for weapons and ammunition that Kyiv desperately wants,
and shifted the world’s attention. Past NATO summits have focused almost entirely on the war in Ukraine, now in its fourth year.

Still, Rutte insisted NATO could manage more than one conflict at a time.

“If we would not be able to deal with ... the Middle East, which is very
big and commanding all the headlines, and Ukraine at the same time, we
should not be in the business of politics and military at all,” he said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy arrived in The Hague for
meetings, despite his absence from a leaders’ meeting aiming to seal the military spending agreement.

It’s a big change since the summit in Washington last year, when the alliance’s weighty communique included a vow to supply long-term
security assistance to Ukraine, and a commitment to back the country “on
its irreversible path” to NATO membership.

Zelenskyy’s first official engagement this time was with Dutch Prime
Minister Dick Schoof at his official residence across the road from the
summit venue.

But in a telling sign of Ukraine’s status at the summit, neither leader mentioned NATO. Ukraine’s bid to join the alliance has been put in deep freeze by Trump.

“Let me be very clear, Ukraine is part of the family that we call the Euro-Atlantic family,” Schoof told Zelenskyy, who in turn said he sees
his country’s future in peace “and of course, a part of a big family of
EU family.”

Netherland's Prime Minister Dick Schoof, right, speaks with Ukraine's
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy during a meeting at the Catshuis on the
sidelines of the NATO summit in The Hague, Netherlands, Tuesday, June
24, 2025. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)

Schoof used the meeting to announce a new package of Dutch support to
Kyiv including 100 radar systems to detect drones and a move to produce
drones for Ukraine in the Netherlands, using Kyiv’s specifications.

The U.S. has made no new public pledges of support to Ukraine since
Trump took office six months ago.

Meeting later with Rutte and top EU officials, Zelenskyy appealed for
European investment in Ukraine’s defense industry, which can produce
weapons and ammunition more quickly and cheaply than elsewhere in Europe.

“No doubt, we must stop (Russian President Vladimir) Putin now and in Ukraine. But we have to understand that his objectives reach beyond
Ukraine,” he said. He said NATO’s new target of 5% of GDP “is the right level.”

___

An earlier version of this story removed a reference to Trump’s first
NATO summit, which was in 2017.

MIKE CORDER
MIKE CORDER
Corder is a reporter in the Netherlands who covers international courts
in The Hague, Dutch politics, news and sport. He has worked at The AP
for more than 30 years, including seven years in Australia covering the Asia-Pacific region.

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