Zelenskyy Draws Red Line on NATO Summit Participation
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy isn’t mincing words: if Ukraine is left out of the NATO summit in The Hague this June, Russian President Vladimir Putin will be the real winner. Zelenskyy laid out his concerns during a joint press appearance with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, saying that keeping Ukraine on the sidelines would do more harm to the alliance than any policy shift dreamed up in the Kremlin. According to him, it’s not just about a seat at a table—it’s about NATO sending the right message to both Kyiv and Moscow.
Still, behind closed doors, things are looking shaky. Some NATO insiders are reportedly worried about how the summit plays out with the U.S. presidential election looming. There’s anxious talk of former President Donald Trump’s skepticism about Western backing for Ukraine, creating a ripple effect that makes inviting President Zelenskyy a hot-button issue. Dutch Foreign Minister Caspar Veldkamp stepped up to say the official invite decision belongs to NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, pushing back on the whisper campaign that Washington is pulling the strings. Rutte, who’ll take over from Jens Stoltenberg soon, now finds himself in the spotlight over what sort of message NATO wants to send the world.
Divisions, Diplomacy, and the Putin Factor
The behind-the-scenes dispute isn’t helping NATO project unity. American sources hint at reluctance to see Ukraine front and center, even as Secretary of State Marco Rubio insists he hasn’t heard anything about blocking Zelenskyy. Meanwhile, media from both sides of the Atlantic are swirling with stories that the U.S. is applying quiet pressure to keep the Ukrainian president out of the main event or shuffle him off to a less prominent forum.
Zelenskyy is taking none of this lightly. He’s been open about the "mixed signals" Kyiv keeps getting. For him, clarity matters as much as the invite. Being asked to attend a side forum instead of the main summit might look like a slight not only to Kyiv, but also to eastern NATO members who see Ukraine’s fight as their own. Absent Ukraine, whatever unity NATO tries to showcase will look a lot thinner—and Putin will have a propaganda victory to gloat over.
The real crux here? It’s not just one meeting in the Netherlands. This is about broader disagreements inside NATO over how to deal with Russia, how much to involve Ukraine, and how to avoid fueling political fires in Washington. Each move has big consequences for the alliance’s credibility. The upcoming meeting is shaping up as more than just a photo-op; it’s a public stress test for what NATO stands for, and whom it stands with—when it counts most.
