Ukraine will neither be invited to join NATO nor mentioned in the final communiqué of next week’s NATO leaders’ summit in The Hague, according to diplomatic sources.

Since Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014 and the full-scale invasion in 2022, Ukraine has made NATO membership a central pillar of its national security strategy. The country’s constitution enshrines this goal, and public support remains strong. NATO first declared in 2008 that Ukraine “will become a member,” and in recent years, Western leaders have repeatedly referred to Ukraine’s “irreversible path” toward the Alliance.

Yet despite three years of full-scale war fought under the banner of Euro-Atlantic integration—and multiple high-level assurances—Ukraine has not been invited to join. Now, it won’t even be mentioned in NATO’s top-level statement.

NATO membership not on the table

Lithuanian Foreign Minister Kęstutis Budrys confirmed that Ukrainian membership is not up for discussion.

“This issue is definitely not on NATO’s agenda, and there have been no expectations of an invitation in The Hague,” Budrys told LRT. “We haven’t heard this from the Ukrainians either.”

According to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, the final communiqué is expected to be unusually brief—likely a single page. While it will identify Russia as a long-term threat, it is not expected to reference Ukraine at all.

Allies push for higher defense spending

Member states are expected to commit to raising defense spending to 5% of GDP by 2032, with a review in 2029. That timeline aligns with the end of a potential second term for Donald Trump, who has supported higher military spending but has questioned NATO’s direction and further expansion.

Zelenskyy’s limited role at the summit

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will attend a leaders’ working dinner on 24 June, where Trump is also expected. However, he will not participate in the main summit session, and no meeting of the NATO–Ukraine Council at the heads-of-state level is scheduled. Zelenskyy is instead expected to speak at a Defense Industry Forum held on the sidelines.

On 2 June, Zelenskyy confirmed Ukraine had been invited to the summit in some capacity, but the format and prominence of his involvement remain unclear.

On 15 May, Euractiv reported that, for the first time in three years, Zelenskyy would not be invited to participate in NATO’s main discussions—allegedly to avoid provoking Donald Trump. Around the same time, ANSA reported that the US was reportedly opposed to his formal invitation. However, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio later denied these claims, saying the United States had no objection to Zelenskyy’s participation.

An invitation for Ukraine to become a member of NATO "is not on the agenda" of the upcoming summit in The Hague, Lithuanian Foreign Minister Kestutis Budrys said in an interview with the Baltic News Service published on June 18.

"This issue is certainly not on the NATO agenda and nobody has formulated an expectation that there will be an invitation in The Hague, nor have we heard that from the Ukrainians themselves," Budrys said in comments quoted by the LRT broadcaster.

"There is no such expectation that there will be breakthrough decisions, neither before the Washington summit nor now before the Hague summit – it is not on the agenda."

The comments, coming less than a week before the summit, hint at a shifting rhetoric within the alliance regarding Ukraine's potential membership after U.S. President Donald Trump took office.

The new Trump administration has spoken out against Kyiv's accession, and the U.S. president even echoed the false Russian narratives that its efforts to join NATO helped instigate Russia's full-scale invasion.

Unlike during the previous summits, the final communique may reportedly completely omit the topic of Ukraine's membership, as NATO members seek to avoid a conflict with Trump. The gathering was also preceded by rumors that Ukraine may not be invited due to U.S. opposition, but the invitation was extended in the end.

In spite of these tensions, Budrys said that the summit should keep its focus on Ukraine, stressing that the war-torn country is part of the Euro-Atlantic security space.

Ukraine applied for NATO membership in September 2022, months after the outbreak of the full-scale Russian invasion. The alliance has signaled support for Kyiv's accession efforts in previous years, even declaring at the Washington summit in 2024 that Ukraine's path to membership is "irreversible" — but stopping short of a formal invite.

Kyiv's swift entry seems increasingly unlikely amid opposition from the U.S. and several other members, even though NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte recently reaffirmed that a political commitment to Ukraine's membership stands. Ukraine would need support from all 32 members to join.

It remains uncertain whether The Hague summit will lead to any breakthroughs regarding Ukraine. Following signals that U.S. President Donald Trump may not attend the event, the Guardian reported that President Volodymyr Zelensky may skip the summit as well.

Tired of military aid delays, Ukraine has designed its own ballistic missile — and it’s already in mass-production

Ukraine announced on June 13 that its short-range Sapsan ballistic missile would go into mass production, a major development in Kyiv’s ongoing efforts to domestically produce the weapons it needs to fight Russia’s full-scale invasion. As Ukraine faces growing challenges in securing weapons from Western partners, and Russia continues launching

The Kyiv IndependentYuliia Taradiuk

Dutch Defense Minister Ruben Brekelmans is working to secure Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s participation at the upcoming NATO summit in The Hague on 24-25 June.

Brekelmans said that officials are examining how to include Zelenskyy and other Ukrainian representatives in the summit program, though likely not in the main plenary session with all 32 NATO member states, according to NRC. He also acknowledged uncertainty about whether any session would include US President Donald Trump.

“As far as the Netherlands is concerned, Zelenskyy is welcome at every meeting,” Brekelmans stated.

This approach differs from the previous Washington summit in July last year, where Zelenskyy participated alongside all alliance leaders.

During the 2024 NATO summit in Washington, the member states adopted a declaration committing €40 billion in defense funding for Ukraine through 2025. 

The minister reaffirmed that Ukraine’s future NATO membership remains on an “irreversible path”, despite previous Trump’s statements that Ukraine should “forget about it.”

Brekelmans argued that the timeline has not fundamentally changed since the Biden presidency, when immediate membership was also not considered feasible.

 “Even during Biden’s presidency, it was never said that this could happen in the near future. That hasn’t changed,” Brekelmans noted.

The minister expressed skepticism about near-term peace negotiations, arguing that Russian President Vladimir Putin shows no genuine interest in ceasefire discussions. Brekelmans concluded that sustained pressure on Russia remains necessary to create conditions where Putin might seriously consider peace talks.

This year’s summit will be the first summit led by Mark Rutte as Secretary General of NATO. NATO officials believe he will need all his diplomatic skills to secure a successful outcome — particularly in avoiding tensions with US President Donald Trump.

On 26 May, the Netherlands completed a delivery of a final batch of its F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine of all 24 promised aircraft.

The jets serve multiple roles in Ukrainian defense operations, including intercepting Russian drones and missiles targeting Ukrainian cities daily.