NATO meeting in Washington

War support, budget and future on NATO's agenda

Sweden's former Prime Minister Carl Bildt has called on Europe's leaders to double their defense budgets to "deter threats from an increasingly desperate Russian regime".
 However, US President Joe Biden has no plans to push for new military spending targets during this week's NATO summit, the White House announced.

Instead, the US wants to emphasize strong cohesion and determination among NATO's 32 member states, not least in terms of military support for Ukraine.

But in fact, the political situation in the United States has caused confidence in NATO to waver, writes the New York Times. There is concern that the alliance will be weakened if the ardent NATO advocate Biden is replaced by the more reserved and critical Donald Trump.

- Who will keep NATO together if not me? Biden himself said in an interview with ABC on Friday.

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"Biden must save himself - before he saves Ukraine"

During this week's NATO meeting, the war in Ukraine as well as Sweden and Finland's new membership will be overshadowed by Joe Biden's struggle to save his political future. That's what CNN's Stephen Collinson writes in an analysis.

Every step Biden takes, every gesture he makes and every word he utters will be subject to intense scrutiny, Collinson believes.

"Biden has been an unwavering guide for NATO since the Russian invasion began. [...] But he has a much more urgent priority at the summit this week - to save himself," he writes.

The fact that the NATO meeting coincides with one of the worst Russian attacks on Ukraine in months, The Guardian's Andrew Roth believes will be significant. Even if the support package presented before the meeting was presented as "historic", it is not enough, he writes.

"The robot attack on Kyiv increases the sense of urgency in the discussions between NATO's 32 leaders."
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Sources: Ukraine's path to NATO is 'irreversible'

A draft of NATO's joint statement describes Ukraine's path to becoming a NATO member as "irreversible," sources told CNN.

According to the American channel, the draft can still be changed before it is published. But it would have a heavy meaning if the final version of the statement contains this word, writes CNN. If the word remains, it would be a strong signal to Ukraine and Russia.

The White House supports keeping the word in the final version of the statement, according to a source, as long as the statement also affirms that Ukraine continues to work to introduce democratic reforms.