NATO Summit in Ankara to be Shortest in Two Decades, Focus on Russia and Ukraine

ANKARA/BRUSSELS, July 7. /TASS/. The NATO summit in Ankara will be the shortest in at least the last 20 years and will consist of a working dinner on the evening of July 7 and a single plenary session on July 8.

The participants are set to consider three key practical issues: preparations for a military confrontation with Russia, increasing arms supplies and funding for Ukraine, and building up their own military capabilities. The meeting's duration has been minimized to reduce the likelihood of disagreements with US President Donald Trump. For the same reason, Vladimir Zelensky will not be permitted to speak at the summit. He will only participate in a defense industry forum on the sidelines of the meeting.

The summit’s sole plenary session will take place on July 8 and last less than three hours. Taking opening and closing remarks into account, each of the 32 NATO leaders will have less than five minutes to speak. This suggests that the main decisions have already been agreed upon and incorporated into the draft final declaration.

According to sources in Brussels, the leaders of the alliance’s member states will reaffirm their commitment to increasing military spending to 5% of GDP by 2035 and pledge "long-term military aid" to Ukraine in this document. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz announced the maximum amount of this aid: 140 billion euros for 2026-2027, including the 60 billion euros in arms the EU has already promised as part of a 90-billion-euro funding program.