Ukraine invited to NATO summit in Hague: Zelensky

KYIV: Ukraine has been invited to a NATO summit later in June, President Volodymyr Zelensky has said, after earlier warning it would be a “victory” for Russia if it was not there.

The heads of NATO states will gather in The Hague, Netherlands, from June 24-26, with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and US President Donald Trump’s calls for alliance members to ramp up defence spending set to dominate the agenda.

“We were invited to the NATO summit. I think this is important,” Zelensky said Monday after he held a meeting with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte in Vilnius.

Kyiv is seeking to shore up its support from Europe because of uncertainties over vital military aid under Trump.

Ukraine attacks Russian nuclear-capable bombers in Siberia

Last week Zelensky had said that “if Ukraine is not present at the NATO summit, it will be a victory for Putin, but not over Ukraine, but over NATO.”

Zelensky wants NATO to offer security guarantees to Ukraine in the event of a ceasefire or peace deal with Russia — something Moscow has called “unacceptable.”

Separately, a massive Ukrainian drone attack on Russia’s nuclear-capable strategic bombers overshadowed a new round of peace negotiations – the second such direct talks since 2022 – which got underway in Istanbul on Monday after an unexplained delay.

With no sign that the two sides are any closer to a deal, the mood in Russia was angry as the talks kicked off, with influential war bloggers calling on Moscow to deliver a fearsome retaliatory blow against Kyiv after Ukraine on Sunday launched one of its most ambitious attacks of the war, targeting Russian nuclear-capable long-range bombers in Siberia and elsewhere.

“The eyes of the whole world are focused on the contacts here,” Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan told the Russian and Ukrainian delegations as they faced off against each other on opposite sides of the room in the sumptuous Ciragan Palace by the Bosphorus.