ANKARA, Turkey — Leaders from all 32 NATO member states have convened in Ankara for a two-day summit that opened Tuesday, with defense spending, support for Ukraine, and a high-stakes bilateral meeting between President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky dominating the agenda. The gathering arrives at a tense moment for the alliance, as simmering disputes over military budgets, U.S. troop reductions in Europe, and the war in Ukraine collide against the backdrop of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s elaborate hosting effort.
A Summit Billed as NATO’s “Report Card”
This year’s meeting is widely being framed as a test of whether last year’s promises will translate into action. At the 2024 Hague summit, NATO members agreed to raise their collective spending target to 5% of GDP — 3.5% on core military spending by 2035, with an additional 1.5% earmarked for security-related needs. Some analysts have described the Ankara gathering as the “first report card” following last year’s summit in The Hague, with one national security fellow suggesting that a strong showing from member states could hand Trump a symbolic victory.
Ahead of the summit, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte pointed to progress already made, noting that European allies and Canada have collectively spent an additional $1.2 trillion on defense over the past decade, including a 20% jump in spending between 2024 and 2025 alone. Still, the mood entering Ankara has been anything but settled. On the summit, Trump publicly called Germany’s defense spending “ridiculous,” prompting a defense from German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who described the country’s current budget as the greatest defense effort Germany has ever made.
Adding to the friction, the Trump administration has moved beyond rhetoric, announcing a phased withdrawal of American warplanes, destroyers, and submarines from NATO countries — a decision some analysts say carries more symbolic than operational weight.
Trump and Erdogan: A Warm Welcome Amid Broader Tension
Trump arrived in Ankara Tuesday afternoon to a notably warm reception from Erdogan, who greeted him first at a local air base and later at an elaborate welcome ceremony. Speaking alongside the Turkish leader, Trump repeatedly praised Turkey’s loyalty to the United States, particularly its posture during the recent U.S.-Israel conflict with Iran. NATO also unveiled a wave of new arms deals to coincide with Trump’s arrival, including a contract for Swedish manufacturer Saab to supply up to 10 new GlobalEye surveillance aircraft to a 10-nation consortium, replacing NATO’s aging fleet of 50-year-old AWACS planes.
Trump also signaled openness to reversing a long-standing point of friction with Ankara, saying he would consider allowing Turkey back into the F-35 fighter jet program after its 2019 removal over the purchase of Russian S-400 missile defense systems — a move Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has publicly urged Washington to reject.
The Trump-Zelensky Meeting: Air Defense Takes Center Stage
The summit’s most closely watched moment is Trump’s bilateral meeting with Zelensky, scheduled for Wednesday. It comes just weeks after the two leaders met at the G7 summit in France, and follows a July 4 phone call in which Zelensky and Trump discussed the front line and ongoing diplomatic efforts.
The meeting carries added urgency after Russia launched a massive strike on Kyiv on the eve of the summit, killing at least 15 people in the capital and eight more in the surrounding region, according to Ukrainian officials, with damage reported at more than 10 locations across the city. Zelensky used the attack to press allies for faster air defense deliveries, arguing that an insufficient supply of U.S.-made interceptors has left Ukraine exposed to Russian ballistic missiles, which he called Russia’s “last major advantage” in the war. Ukraine’s Defense Ministry has reportedly written to nearly 40 countries requesting Patriot missile systems from existing stockpiles.
Trump, for his part, struck a notably optimistic tone ahead of the meeting, telling reporters he’d had what he described as a “very good talk” with Russian President Vladimir Putin and separately spoken with Zelensky, adding that he believes both leaders want to reach a settlement soon.
Allies Watch Closely as U.S. Commitment Faces Questions
Beneath the diplomatic choreography, deeper anxieties persist. According to a recent Congressional Research Service brief, Trump’s public criticism of NATO — combined with his stated interest in acquiring Greenland and confirmed plans for U.S. troop reductions in Europe — has led some allied governments to question Washington’s long-term commitment to the alliance. The administration’s 2026 National Defense Strategy has explicitly called on European allies to take the lead on Ukraine’s defense, framing it as fundamentally Europe’s responsibility.
Rutte has worked to bridge the gap, cultivating what’s been described as a largely positive relationship with Trump — an approach that has occasionally drawn criticism from other European officials — while continuing to press the alliance’s three core priorities for Ankara: raising defense investment, strengthening transatlantic defense manufacturing, and sustaining long-term support for Ukraine.
What Comes Next
As the summit continues into Wednesday, attention will center on whether the Trump-Zelensky meeting produces concrete commitments on air defense, and whether European allies’ new spending pledges are enough to satisfy a U.S. administration that has repeatedly signaled its patience is limited. With Russia intensifying strikes on Ukrainian civilians even as diplomats gather in Ankara, the summit’s outcome may carry consequences well beyond the closed-door meetings — shaping both the trajectory of the war and the durability of the alliance itself heading into the second half of 2026.
This is a developing story, and details from Wednesday’s sessions — including the outcome of the Trump-Zelensky meeting — were still emerging at the time of publication.