Nato summit opens in US as alliance faces familiar challenges

As the summit opens on Tuesday, all eyes will be on Ukraine as the group works to counter Russia

The US flag alongside the Nato flag outside the Eisenhower Executive Office Building in Washington. Reuters

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When Washington last hosted a Nato summit in 1999, the alliance was grappling with the Kosovo War, welcoming new member countries and marking a milestone anniversary.

The war, a complicated conflict that involved deep ethnic divisions, was effectively ended through a series of Nato air strikes that pushed the forces of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia out of Kosovo.

A quarter of a century later, as the alliance turns 75, the US is hosting another Nato summit, where a different war in Europe, the accession of new members and the military coalition's future direction will again be in focus.

As the summit opens on Tuesday, all eyes will be on Ukraine, which has been at war with Russia since 2022. Kyiv wants to join the 32-member Nato alliance and conversations will centre on language around a road map to accession.

The Ukraine war has galvanised Nato more than any time since its founding at the start of the Cold War in 1949, with allied nations rushing to assist a non-member state in unprecedented ways over fears that Russian President Vladimir Putin could next attack the alliance's eastern flank if he conquers Ukraine.

The invasion also prompted Finland and Sweden to join Nato. In 1999, it was the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland that joined in a year when former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic was attacking Kosovo.

A crucial outcome of the summit, which runs through Thursday, will be the extent to which Nato offers Ukraine a timetable to join.

US President Joe Biden's administration, which has concerns about corruption in Kyiv, has suggested Ukraine should be offered a “bridge to membership”.

Nato's departing Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has gone further, saying Ukraine is on an “irreversible path” to joining.

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Dozens of non-member partners including the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Jordan and Israel have been invited to join the talks. Nato sees its so-called southern flank, which comprises the Middle East and Africa, as crucial in countering Russia's influence.

On Monday, Mr Biden said that “new measures to strengthen Ukraine’s air defences” would soon be announced to help protect cities and civilians from Russian strikes.

“The United States stands with the people of Ukraine,” he added.

Mr Stoltenberg on Monday met US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin at the Pentagon before the summit's opening. The former Norwegian prime minister will be replaced later this year by Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte.

Moscow and Kyiv must “sit down and accept a solution where Ukraine prevails as a sovereign independent nation”, Mr Stoltenberg said, speaking alongside Mr Austin in Washington.

Representatives of the 32 allied countries are gathering after the bombing of a Kyiv children's hospital, where at least 29 people were killed. The medical centre is the largest children's hospital in Ukraine, and photos from the scene showed young patients – some of them being treated for cancer – and staff huddled in the streets outside.

Kyiv says the building was hit by a Russian hypersonic missile and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has vowed to retaliate. Russia has denied involvement, blaming the failed launch of a Ukrainian defence missile.

Kyiv children's hospital hit by Russian missile attacks – in pictures

Rescuers work at Ohmatdyt children's hospital in Kyiv after it was damaged by Russian missile strikes. Reuters

Women comfort patients at the hospital. Reuters

Most of Ohmatdyt was destroyed. Reuters

A large section of the children’s hospital was reduced to rubble. Reuters

Volunteers form a line, passing stones and debris to each other in a bid to clear the rubble. Reuters

The attack on Ohmatdyt was part of a barrage of Russian missiles in various parts of Ukraine. Reuters

Children take shelter in the basement of the kindergarten after the missile attack in Kyiv. AFP

Burning cars at the site. AFP

Black smoke rises over Kyiv. AFP

Ukraine is not part of Nato member but several allied countries border it, and the launch of Russia's “special military operation” in February 2022 sparked alarm across the alliance.

Nato has pledged an additional €40 million for Ukraine, with allies last month agreeing to assume a greater role in coordinating arms supplies.

The decision came amid growing concern over the growing likelihood Mr Biden will lose out in November to Nato-sceptic Donald Trump.

Mr Biden has been on the defence since his weak performance in a presidential debate last month and is having to fend off calls from his own Democratic Party to step aside and let another candidate run.

Trump has been vocal in his disdain for the alliance, accusing other members of not paying their fair share.

Guidelines for the alliance state that members should aim to allocate at least 2 per cent of their gross domestic product towards defence.

British Defence Secretary John Healey and Foreign Secretary David Lammy will be joining newly-anointed Prime Minister Keir Starmer in Washington on Wednesday as the Labour leader makes his first foray on to the international stage.

Mr Healey and Mr Lammy wrote in The Telegraph on Monday that Britain would begin paying 2.5 per cent in Nato dues “as soon as possible” and urged all other members to do the same.

“We will have a 'Nato first' defence strategy. European security will be our foreign and defence priority,” the UK cabinet members wrote.

During the debate in Atlanta last month, Trump said he had forced Nato members to put more effort into funding defence and in March he said the US should not protect any member country that failed to do so.

Mr Stoltenberg said that the summit would help ensure that allies “continue to carry their fair share of the burden”.

“We have good numbers: 23 allies are now spending at least 2 per cent of GDP on defence, up from only three allies when we made the pledge back in 2014,” Mr Stoltenberg said.