Nato summit: Trump says US could let Ukraine make Patriot missiles after meeting with Zelenskyy – Europe live | World news

It is looking like the press conference room is now ready for Trump, so that should get under way shortly.

We will bring it live here, obviously.

Separately, can I just bring to your attention the absolutely amazing tea glasses they used for Starmer’s meeting with Turkey’s Erdoğan?

Meanwhile, UK’s outgoing prime minister Keir Starmer said that Nato had emerged ⁠from its ⁠annual summit “stronger ​and more united”, citing US president Donald Trump’s ⁠closing remarks which he said had praised the ⁠spirit and unity of the meeting.

“President ​Trump summed ‌up and ‌said that he was very ‌pleased to welcome the spirit of the meeting and the unity of the meeting, and therefore, in terms of what’s ‌the outcome here, and answering that question ‘is Nato stronger ​and more united coming out of this summit?’ then the answer is yes to ⁠that,” Starmer told reporters in commnents reported by Reuters.

During his Syria meeting, Trump gets asked about his comments on Spain earlier (10:13), with a suggestion he cannot just cut trade ties with Spain, but would need to change the US relationship with the EU more broadly.

He says “we are going to see what happens with the EU,” as “they have treated us very badly for years and took advantage” of the US.

But then he inexplicably goes in a very different direction, ending with comments about “trillions of investments,” specifying that’s “trillions with a t.”

He then speaks about a few other things, including the price of eggs, and wraps it up.

Meanwhile, Italy’s prime minister Giorgia Meloni said that, despite her recent fallout in relations with Trump, she did not regret her efforts to strike a close partnership with the US president.

“No, I absolutely ⁠don’t regret anything I have done,” Meloni told reporters in Ankara, Reuters reported.

“I made that political investment because I believe in the unity of the West. It’s not a strategy I adopted with Trump’s arrival, but one I have ⁠pursued with all my counterparts,” she said.

Meloni acknowledged that “things are going the ​way we have seen” ​between her and Trump, but ​stressed that they still shared common ground on issues including ​immigration and opposition ‌to what she described ​as “woke culture“.

Trump has now moved on to his next meeting, with Syria’s president Ahmed al-Sharaa, so guess we will have to wait a bit longer until he shows up for his final press conference of the summit.

He’s speaking alongside al-Sharaa now, praising his track record in Syria, and saying the country “has become very stable.”

By the way, Ukraine’s Zelenskyy is clearly happy with how his meeting with Trump has gone.

He posted a snap from their chat on X, saying:

We can accomplish a great deal together.

Meanwhile, other leaders have also been speaking to the media.

Spain’s prime minister Pedro Sánchez insisted that his country’s ties with the United States were “very positive” despite president Donald Trump’s latest threat to cut off trade links (10:13).

“Relations between the United States and Spain are very positive relations in social, cultural, economic and also political terms,” Sanchez told reporters in comments reported by AFP.

He also said the cooperation between the US and Spanish armed forces remained “optimal and positive.”

Back to Trump’s comments next to Ukraine’s Zelenskyy, here are the key lines on a potential licensing deal on Patriot missiles (15:09).

“But one of the things I think we’re going to be talking about today, I just… a little birdie told me this, … the fact that we’ll give them the right to make Patriots.

We’ll show them how to do it. It’s very complex, actually, but it’s, you’ll figure out the complexity quickly.

…

This way [they] can’t complain that we’re not giving them enough and say, make them yourself. We haven’t informed the company of that yet, but that’ll that’ll work out all right. You know, I’m sure they’ll be thrilled.”

He later added “they can produce them pretty quickly” as Ukraine has “a great ability to produce weapons, pretty complex weapons.”

(By the way, at one point he confused Iran with Japan, and talked about the Islamic Republic of Japan. Errmm…)

Defence and security editor
in Ankara

We’ve moved reluctantly and the room is now clearing.

Rutte also got a taster of what some people will probably think seeing him not respond to Trump’s comments about taking control of Greenland when a Danish reporter asked him if the job “has any effect on your self-respect when you sit next to him like that and say nothing.”

He offered a very complex answer, saying that Trump deserves some praise for taking on Russia and heping Ukraine, and on Greenland all parties need to “work together on this,” so something, something.

Not sure that question was properly answered, to be honest.

Asked about Trump’s public criticism of Nato, including earlier today, Rutte offered this colourful comparison:

“I always felt that families when sometimes you have heart to hearts and sometimes you fight each other a bit are much stronger than families where you have oh, let’s not disagree and let’s keep things nice and unity. That’s a bit fake.

I love it when sometimes between friends, you can fight each other, because you can. It makes you stronger. And President Trump is not a person which keeps his views to himself.”

During his presser earlier, Rutte was also asked about Trump’s latest comments on Greenland.

He says that Trump is generally right on the warnings about the need to defend the Arctic, and says his agreement with Trump – which he referenced earlier – was about Nato stepping up its activities in this area. And the alliance has done that, he says.

Separately, there are tripartite discussions between the US, Denmark and Greenland on their relations and that’s a separate process he is not a party to, he says.

Rutte also got asked about the next Nato summit in Albania, which was meant to take place in 2027. He doesn’t answer the question directly: confirms it will be in Albania, but says “the exact timing” is yet to be decided.

Defence and security editor
in Ankara

The theature where the Trump press conference will be happening is packed but the US are trying to ask all the reporters to leave the room while they set up.

Reporters are refusing to leave as the set up continues.

By the way, we will hear from Trump again very shortly as he is set to deliver his traditional end-of-the-summit presser soon.

Catching up with Rutte’s presser, the Nato secretary general insisted the summit “has shown this alliance is stronger than ever,” with “a tremendously successful” summit and “a great sense of unity.”

“Allies warmly welcomed president Trump’s leadership that is transforming this alliance and making it stronger,” he said with “a huge sense of unity” among the 32 leaders.

(Sceptical side-eye to camera.)

He said Nato was “rebalancing” the alliance “for the better,” with Trump resolving the “big irritant” over spending with Europeans and Canada stepping up to the task.

He also said the allies “reaffirmed Nato’s unwavering support for Ukraine” and its determination to “continue to ensure Ukraine gets what it needs,” and their commitment to Article 5.

That’s essentially all what the leaders said in their communique anyway (14:46).

Let’s see how much of that translates into actual actions, but on the face of it – although there is an obvious problem with looking at that with Trump – this was a very positive briefing for Ukraine and Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

The US president repeatedly praised Zelenskyy – even laughing at one point at how fair the pair has come since that infamous Oval Office meeting last year (14:58) – and talked about his hopes of developing postwar Ukraine and tapping into its “tremendous potential.”

Sure, there were still some troubling bits when he appeared to disregard the pretty fundamental difference between an aggressor and a victim with his “kids fighting in a park” metaphor (15:03), and when he talked about his personal relationship with Putin.

But what will matter for Ukraine more is his apparent backing for Kyiv’s strikes inside Russia (15:06), a very strong suggestion that Ukraine will get a licensing deal to produce “defensive” Patriot missiles (15:09; although big questions remain on timings here), and a clear and repeated pledge to push for a peace deal to “save lives” (15:13) and offer strong security guarantees to hold up any future deal (15:19).

There was also a hint of genuine admiration for Ukraine’s incredible process on drone production, with Trump suggesting that the US “would buy their drones” (15:25) – something that would have been unthinkable even a year ago.