The NATO summit was held from the 24th to the 25th of June 2025. Some key takeaways involved renewed calls for an increase in military spending and debate concering the Russo-Ukraine War.

As Laura Gozzi and Paul Kirby have found ‘The main takeaway is the allies' commitment to a 5% defence spending target, external, to be reached within a decade. It's a remarkable jump from the current 2% guideline, which currently isn't even met by eight Nato members out of 32. Only 3.5% of that figure is meant to be achieved entirely through core defence spending on troops and weapons – while the remaining 1.5% can be put towards "defence-related expenditure". And that's a suitably broad concept that can apply to spending even only loosely linked to defence: as long as it is used to "protect our critical infrastructure, defend our networks, ensure our civil preparedness and resilience, unleash innovation, and strengthen our defence industrial base". Reaching that 3.5% core defence spending target will still be a significant ask for many Nato countries, many of which currently hover around the 2% line. Plans to reach the 5% figure will have to be submitted annually and will have to follow a "credible, incremental path". A review will take place in 2029 … The Russia question was always going to be tricky. Most Nato countries – particularly those in close proximity to the Russian border – are in agreement that Moscow could pose a direct threat to them in the near future; Rutte himself has said Russia could use military force against the alliance within five years. Last year's end-of-summit declaration referenced – in no uncertain terms – Moscow's "brutal war of aggression" several times. But Trump has had a much softer approach to Moscow, and has resisted treating it as an adversary. As such it was always unlikely he was going to approve a declaration that labelled Russia as the clear culprit for the bloody Ukraine war, now more than three years old.’ (BBC.2025) As the authors have asserted, the key takeaway was the commitment to greater military spending by NATO members, a 5% spending target, reachable in a decade. Over double the current guideline of 2%. This is likely due to the ongoing uncertainty surrounding the Russo-Ukraine war. NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte has warned that Russia could launch an attack against a NATO member in 5 years, therefore the rapid increase in military spending commitment is understandable. Trump was reluctant to heavily chastise Russia at the summit and has maintained his neutral approach when speaking of the Kremlin’s activities in regards to Ukraine. 

The NATO summit also featured notable silence surrounding the proposed Ukrainian acquisition of NATO membership. As Callum Sutherland maintains ‘There was no official word on Ukraine’s long-sought after NATO membership, which has been a key talking point over the past few years, even more so since Russia’s invasion in 2022. “NATO has no business in Ukraine. Ukraine is not a member of NATO, neither Russia, my job is to keep it as it is,” said Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán at the summit. Meanwhile, NATO remains clear on its stance. “Ukraine is not a NATO member. Ukraine is a NATO partner country, which means that it cooperates closely with NATO but it is not covered by the security guarantee in the Alliance’s founding treaty,” the organisation’s website reads, adding that “NATO condemns in the strongest possible terms Russia's brutal and unprovoked war of aggression against Ukraine.”’ (TIME.2025) As Sutherland has explained, the question over Ukraine’s long debated NATO membership was notably absent from the summit. NATO members simply reaffirmed Ukraine’s current role as a NATO partner, with the current state of the Russo-Ukraine War, NATO membership for Ukraine is highly unlikely until long after the conflict has ended.

The key takeaways from the summit were of significant increases in military spending commitments from NATO members, a jump from 2% to 5%, with contributing factors such as the Russo-Ukraine War showing no signs of abating. NATO membership is also an impossibility for Ukraine as it stands and further efforts by NATO members will be needed to ramp up pressure on both sides to finally put an end to the war.