NATO changes Zelenskyy's summit role amid Trump's expected presence — The Times
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy (facebook.com/zelenskyy.official)
The next NATO summit will last just two and a half hours because of US President Donald Trump. However, this isn't the only change planned for this year's meeting, The Times reports.
The outlet notes that, acknowledging the US president's reluctance to attend lengthy meetings, the upcoming gathering in The Hague will last just two and a half hours.
Typically, NATO summits consist of three sessions, each lasting two and a half hours and focused on geopolitics and strategy. However, next week's meeting will be limited to a single session.
The summit communiqué, which will outline NATO's spending targets, is expected to be just five paragraphs long and fit on a single A4 page. By contrast, last year's meeting in Washington produced a 44-paragraph declaration totaling 5,400 words.
An anonymous diplomat said that the idea was to keep the summit focused, brief, and concise, noting that Trump could be impatient and had a short attention span — so the shorter it was, the better.
Zelenskyy's visit to the NATO summit
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has been invited to the NATO summit, but with changes to his diplomatic status. This adjustment was reportedly made to avoid any uncomfortable encounters with Donald Trump.
A source within Ukraine's presidential office confirmed that Zelenskyy was originally expected to attend the summit in person. He is also scheduled to attend a dinner hosted by the King of the Netherlands on Tuesday evening.
It was also noted that while the summit communiqué will still describe Russia as a direct threat, it will not repeat previous declarations that Ukraine has an irreversible path to NATO membership.
Ukraine's path to NATO membership
During the full-scale war, Ukraine has taken significant steps toward joining NATO.
The Alliance has repeatedly emphasized that its door remains open to Ukraine, though membership during active conflict is not possible. Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump has outright rejected the possibility of Ukraine joining the Alliance.
US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has even called NATO membership for Ukraine an unrealistic basis for ending the war or providing long-term security guarantees.
