Ukrainian President Zelenskyy sidelined as NATO leaders meet to agree defense spending boost
THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Spurred by Russia's aggressive military build up and Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, NATO leaders met Wednesday to agree a significant boost in defense spending. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy could only look on from the sidelines.
Ukraine, which has been at war with Russia since Moscow's illegal invasion in 2022, has been front and center at recent NATO summits, but as the alliance's annual leaders' meeting opened in The Hague, Zelenskyy was not in the room.
Instead, he scheduled a series of face-to-face meetings with leaders at the summit venue, including with U.S. President Donald Trump, who had a major bust up with Zelenskyy earlier this year in the Oval Office.
'Well, we'll discuss the obvious. We'll discuss his difficulty. He's got a little difficulty, Zelenskyy,' Trump told reporters before joining the summit. 'He's a nice guy. I mean, I'm going to meet him today. I don't know, I assume we're going to be discussing Ukraine.'
Trump's administration has blocked Ukraine's bid to join NATO.
The conflict has laid waste to Ukrainian towns and killed thousands of civilians. Just last week, Russia launched one of the biggest drone attacks of the invasion on Kyiv.
Russian leaders and military top brass have been accused of war crimes including targeting civilian infrastructure. The International Criminal Court, based in The Hague, has issued an arrest warrant for President Vladimir Putin on charges of involvement in abducting Ukrainian children. Putin denies the charges.
Zelenskyy spent Tuesday in The Hague shuttling from meeting to meeting. He got a pledge from summit host the Netherlands for military aid including new drones and radars to help knock out Russian drones.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced that the U.K. will provide 350 air defense missiles to Ukraine, funded by 70 million pounds ($95 million) raised from the interest on seized Russian assets.
Zelenskyy dined Tuesday night at Dutch King Willem-Alexander's Huis Ten Bosch palace with NATO leaders including Trump. The two leaders were seated at different tables — Zelenskyy sitting with Dutch Queen Maxima and Trump with the king.
On Wednesday, as the NATO leaders met, Zelenskyy scheduled more meetings to keep his nation's battle at the forefront of their thoughts.
Later in the day, Zelenskyy was traveling to France to sign off on plans to set up a new international court to prosecute those accused of orchestrating Russia's war against Ukraine.
The special tribunal will target the senior Russian leaders who launched the full-scale invasion, the initial 'crime of aggression' that underlies the countless atrocities Ukraine accuses Russian forces of committing.
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Associated Press writer Molly Quell in The Hague, Netherlands, and Jill Lawless in London contributed.
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