Though President Trump assailed partners for not joining the war in Iran, he said he would grant Ukraine long-sought authority to make the Patriot defense system.
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President Trump kicked off the second day of the NATO summit in Turkey on Wednesday by restating his “need” to control Greenland, blasting European allies as “hopeless” and threatening countries that did not support the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran.
But the summit produced some welcome news for the alliance and Ukraine. Mr. Trump told President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine that the United States would allow the country to manufacture Patriot air defense systemsto protect itself from Russian missiles. “This way, you can’t complain that we’re not giving them enough,” he said.
Wrapping up a short trip to Turkey, Trump has started his news conference at the NATO Summit. He is joined by Marco Rubio, Pete Hegseth, Scott Bessent, Matthew Whitaker, Tom Barrack and Stephen Miller.
President Trump said on Wednesday that the United States would grant Ukraine a license to manufacture Patriot air defense systems, a move that could significantly bolster Kyiv’s ability to protect itself against Russian missile attacks that have escalated in recent weeks.
“We’ll give them the right to make Patriots,” Mr. Trump said during a meeting with President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey. “We’ll show them how to do it.”
President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine said he had a “good meeting” with President Trump and appreciated “the strong emphasis placed on strengthening Ukraine’s air defense” to better protect civilian lives. The two men also discussed diplomacy and ideas that could “bring peace closer,” he added in a statement on social media.
President Trump said “we’re going to see what happens with the E.U.” when asked if his threat to cut off U.S. trade with Spain meant he plans to renegotiate agreements with the European Union. “They’ve treated us very badly for years, and they took advantages,” Trump said, referring to the E.U.
The most recent trade agreement with the E.U., which governs Spain’s foreign trade, was finalized just a few weeks ago, but Trump has already threatened to violate it.
President Trump has made no secret of his disappointment in NATO, raising concerns about his commitment to the military alliance’s principle of collective defense. And he has withdrawn most American funding from Ukraine, arguing that it should be Europe’s responsibility to support Kyiv in its war against Russian invaders.
But in a declaration agreed to on Wednesday by the leaders of all member states, including the United States, NATO restated “our ironclad commitment to our collective defense under Article 5” of the alliance’s charter. And it reinforced the alliance’s commitment to Ukraine, promising 70 billion euros ($80 billion) in military aid this year and next from Europe and Canada.
Carlos Barragan
Reporting from Madrid, Spain
Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez of Spain has shrugged off President Trump’s threat to cut off trade with the country over defense spending.
“Commercial relations are woven between companies, not between governments,” Sánchez said at a news conference in Turkey, noting that trade policy is handled by the European Union and that Spain runs a trade deficit with the United States.
Sánchez sought to downplay the remarks, emphasizing the close relationship between the two countries. He then talked up his defense spending record, saying Spain had met its 2 percent goal for 2026. “We came to the NATO summit with our homework done,” he said.
He added that he and Trump spoke informally at the summit about golf and the World Cup with “absolute cordiality.”
President Trump’s trip back to the United States has changed. He was initially supposed to fly directly to Washington this evening, but he announced on Truth Social that he is first going to the United Kingdom. He said he will fly to R.A.F. Mildenhall in Suffolk, England, on the old Air Force One, to give American troops stationed at the base an opportunity to see his new Qatari-donated plane. It is unclear why he abruptly decided to change his itinerary.
Last month, Trump unveiled a new Air Force One, a refurbished Boeing 747 donated by Qatar. This was the first international trip that the president used the new plane.
Rutte also is distancing himself from the dispute between President Trump and most of the rest of the alliance over control of Greenland. “I am not involved in those talks,” he said, describing ongoing discussions among the United States, Greenland and Denmark. Greenland is an autonomous territory of Denmark.
Rutte is downplaying President Trump’s sharp criticism of NATO alliesearlier in the day. “Yes, you will have your forceful debates,” he said. “Sometimes people will argue at the top of their lungs, their points of view, and others will answer. And I’m never, I’m never worried about that.”
He added: “It not only makes us stronger in the end, we also come together. Today is evidence of that, and I always know that President Trump and the U.S. has completely committed to NATO.”
The NATO secretary general, Mark Rutte, said the summit that ended mid-afternoon in Turkey solidified “a stronger, a fairer, and a more capable NATO.” He said allies sealed $50 billion in new weapons deals at a defense industry forum on Tuesday, and agreed to invest about $30 billion in fuel storage and distribution pipelines, including on NATO’s eastern flank, “to ensure our forces have the energy supplies they need for war fighting readiness.”
President Vladimir Putin of Russia has proposed that President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine come to Moscow for talks — a prospect the Ukrainian leader has ruled out. President Trump took note of that in remarks alongside Zelensky just now, turning to him and asking if he would go to Russia. “It’s difficult — there are a lot of Ukrainian drones there. It’d be dangerous,” Zelensky said with a smirk, in reference to Kyiv’s recent long-range drone strikes inside Russia.
President Trump, venting his longstanding animus toward Europe at the NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey, singled out Spain with particular spleen on Wednesday.
“I don’t want anything to do with Spain,” he said of the European Union’s fourth-largest economy. “Cut off all trade with Spain, please, including visits.”
President Trump told President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine that the United States would license Ukraine to manufacture Patriot air defense systems to protect itself from Russian airstrikes. “This way, you can’t complain that we’re not giving them enough,” Trump told Zelensky at the start of a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the NATO summit.
“Let’s say, ‘make them yourself’,” Trump said. He added: “We haven’t informed the company of that yet, but that’ll work out all right.” The American defense company Raytheon currently manufactures the sophisticated anti-ballistic air defense system.
This would be big news. Zelensky has repeatedly asked for licensing permissions, saying it would help speed up production of the sorely-needed interceptors, which are in short supply.
Talking about the war Russia launched against Ukraine, President Trump said he likes to “use an analogy, and it sounds simple, but it’s sort of true: you have two kids in a park and they don’t like each other and they start fighting, and sometimes you have to let ‘em fight, and see that it’s tough.” Ukraine’s leader sat impassively beside Trump as he spoke.
President Trump and President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine are speaking to journalists right now. Trump — who has sharply criticized Zelensky in the past, including by calling him ungrateful — said the two men had developed “a very good” relationship. Zelensky smiled and expressed thanks, repeatedly, for the United States’ support. “I am sure you will do everything to solve this war,” Zelensky said.
It only took a few TV cameras and a microphone for President Trump to upend the careful choreography of the NATO summit. What would have been an anodyne welcome ceremony for any other world leader turned into the latest opportunity for Mr. Trump to vent his grievances — new and old — with the military alliance.
“I’m not happy with NATO,” he said while sitting beside Mark Rutte, the alliance’s secretary general.
NATO leaders have issued a six-paragraph communiqué, affirming their commitment to the alliance’s collective defense pact, that an attack on one ally is an attack on all. The statement also reinforced the alliance’s commitment to Ukraine, promising $80 billion in military aid both this year and next from Europe and Canada. “Allies stand united in our unwavering support for Ukraine in defending its freedom, sovereignty and territorial integrity,” the communiqué said.
The communiqué did not specifically commit to hold another leaders’ summit next year.
The allies also restated their opposition to Iran ever obtaining a nuclear weapon. They also called on Iran “to fully respect freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz.”
President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine will meet with President Trump at the NATO summit in Turkey on Wednesday against a bloody backdrop at home, after Russian strikes killed more than 50 people in Kyiv over the past week.
Mr. Zelensky is pressing allies on the sidelines of the alliance meeting for more Patriot air defenses, which are the only tool in Kyiv’s arsenal capable of intercepting the ballistic missiles that have been pounding Ukrainian towns and cities.
Carlos Barragan
Reporting from Madrid, Spain
Spain’s health minister, Mónica García, said on Wednesday that President Trump had called the country a “terrible partner” because Spain “does not accept blackmail or threats.”
“We are a sovereign, democratic country that defends multilateralism and peace,” García said, adding, “What is terrible is confusing diplomacy with bullying.”
García was the first government official to publicly react to Trump’s order earlier this morning to cut off all trade with Spain over its low defense spending, a threat he has made previously with no practical effect, given that trade policy is handled by the European Union. Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez of Spain is scheduled to give a news conference at the NATO summit in Turkey later today.
Tensions between Russia and other European nations have grown as NATO leaders convened for their summit in Turkey, with the Kremlin directing extra hostility at countries that back Ukraine in the war with Russia, while showering positive words on President Trump.
Some European NATO members that stridently support Ukraine — like Finland and the Baltic nations of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia — feel particularly insecure, worried that the United States under Mr. Trump might not come to their aid in the event of a Russian attack.
Olof Gill, a spokesman for the European Commission, was asked during a press briefing on Wednesday about President Trump’s earlier comments about wanting to cut trade ties with Spain, which is a European Union member. The European Union’s 27 nations negotiate trade as a bloc, which means that they respond to trade issues jointly — and E.U. officials have just finalized a trade deal with the United States.
“We expect the U.S. to honor its commitments under that joint statement, as we have honored ours,” Gill said. “The Commission will always ensure that the interests of the European Union and all our member states are fully protected.”
President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine says he held an “in-depth discussion about the prospects for diplomacy” with a bipartisan United States Senate delegation on the sidelines of the NATO conference. In a post on X, Zelensky said that he had thanked the senators for their support of Ukraine and briefed them about shortages of Patriot missile interceptors.
Cassandra Vinograd and Ivan Nechepurenko
As more air-raid alarms blared in Kyiv, President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine defended his country’s long-range drone strikes on Russian oil refineries. He said that overnight strikes — which he referred to as “long-range sanctions” — targeted the Saratov region of Russia, along with Tatarstan, and Bashkortostan.
“Ukraine is giving a fully justified response to Russia striking our country and prolonging the war,” he wrote on X from Ankara, where he is meeting with NATO members.
Kyiv says the goal of its long-range strike campaign — which has led to fuel shortages across Russia — is to take the war to Russia and to get the Kremlin to agree to end the conflict. On Wednesday morning, the Russian authorities confirmed there were drone strikes in Saratov and Tatarstan. There was no immediate comment from the authorities about Bashkortostan.
Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen of Denmark said on Wednesday that the country would defend “every inch” of its territory and reiterated that Greenland was not for sale after President Trump again said that the United States should have control over the island.
Ms. Frederiksen once again pushed back against the idea, telling reportersat the NATO summit in Turkey that Greenland, a semi-autonomous Danish territory, was not for sale. When asked how she would respond if the island were attacked, she said, “We will defend the kingdom of Denmark,” adding, “We are ready to defend every inch of NATO, including our own territory.”
As President Trump unleashed on NATO for getting a “free ride,” Mark Rutte, the alliance’s secretary general, urged him to “grab the win” for his efforts to get European allies to increase their defense spending.
“I would argue, without you in this chair, this would not have happened,” Rutte told Trump. “It is, of course, because of Russia, but also because of you. So, grab the win.”
Trump has complained for years that the European nations have not paid their fair share for the military alliance and the U.S. carried too much of the burden. At last year’s NATO summit in The Hague, the nations agreed to increase their military spending.
President Trump said on Wednesday that the United States would grant Ukraine the license to manufacture Patriot air-defense systems, fulfilling a longstanding request from the government of President Volodymyr Zelensky.
The sophisticated air defenses are the only weapon capable of intercepting ballistic missiles, which Russia has been using to pummel Ukrainian towns and cities over four years of war. Mr. Zelensky has repeatedly asked Western allies for more Patriot interceptors and for the United States to let Ukraine manufacture them.
President Trump arrived at the NATO summit on Wednesday and immediately unspooled his longstanding grievances with the military alliance. “I’m not happy with NATO because of what they did with Greenland, and I’m not happy with NATO because of the fact that they didn’t want to help us with the number one state sponsor of terror,” he told reporters, standing alongside the secretary general of NATO, Mark Rutte. “That’s Iran.”
Trump’s quest to wrest control of Greenland, a semi-autonomous territory of Denmark, a NATO member, has astonished and shocked Europeans. “Greenland is a big problem for us,” Trump said. “We need it for protection of the world, not just the United States, and it’s very important.”
One of the big, open questions hovering over this year’s NATO summit was what version of President Trump was going to show up when he stepped off his jumbo jet that he was gifted from the government of Qatar, on Tuesday. As this morning’s meeting has made clear, it’s the one many of them feared might show up.
He’s attacked Spain; made more menacing comments about Greenland; repeatedly criticized Germany, Britain and France; added some more kindling to his firefight with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni of Italy and now has angrily declared that his ceasefire with Iran is over.
“I’m not happy with NATO,” he said multiple times this morning.
President Trump escalated his spat with Spain this morning which stems from the country’s denial of the use of its military bases to United States forces fighting Iran.
While seated next to NATO’s secretary general, Mark Rutte, Trump declared, “I don’t want anything to do with Spain. Cut off all trade with Spain, please, including visits.” He didn’t specify what he meant by visits, but he went on to call Spaniards “hopeless, bad people” and reiterated several more times that the U.S. would no longer trade with that 50 million person country.
A major motif of this year’s NATO conference has to do with European leaders deciding whether it’s politically advantageous to at last dispense with the niceties and fight back against Trump, as the Spanish and Italian leaders have started to do. The time when all European heads of state were playing nice with the mercurial American president is decidedly over.
After the United States carried out airstrikes against Iran last night, President Trump’s fury with Iran dominated his first appearance at the NATO summit on Wednesday. He seems particularly aggrieved that they have proven to be, in his estimation, dishonest negotiators. “We said, ‘Go and do your funeral stuff,’ and instead of that, they start shooting rockets at ships yesterday,”he said. “They’re liars, they’re cheats, they’re sick people.”