"Flattering Private Trump": NATO Summit Exclusives

It was a good summit for Ukraine, firsthand witnesses agree

It’s done.

Following a lot of anticipation and agitation, NATO hosted its first NATO summit since Donald Trump’s re-election in November 2024. And it proved to be a surprise — this time, for all the right reasons.

Much to everyone’s delight, there were no spats, abrupt departures like during the recent G7 summit, or cancellation of Ukraine’s participation.

On the contrary.

The exclusive reports from three firsthand witnesses — co-editor-in-chief of the European Pravda Sergiy Sydorenko, journalist Natalia Rop, and reporter Halyna Ostapovets — set the line “good summit for Ukraine” in solid stone.

“Russia gets dubbed a long-term threat”

In his editorial, one of the most prominent journalists and co-editor-in-chief of the European Pravda Sergiy Sydorenko emphasized that NATO members' chief goal was to appease POTUS Donald Trump.

That worked well.

“An overnight stay in the royal palace. Personal attention and care from the Dutch royal family. A program tailored to every whim of the U.S. president. Flattery so intense it took one's breath away—and which, according to Western media, at times bordered on self-humiliation—all of this happened in The Hague,” he wrote.

These efforts paid off: Trump didn’t hide the fact that he enjoyed the summit very much. To the extent that he not only met with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, a meeting he effectively skipped at the G7 summit following the outbreak of the Israel-Iran war, but also called him “a nice guy.”

The summit also proved to be an accomplishment in its chief domain: NATO spending.

Despite heavy opposition from Spain, which continues to prioritize domestic initiatives over a real geopolitical threat, the 5% spending target was reiterated due to “the long-term threat posed by Russia to Euro-Atlantic security and the persistent threat of terrorism.”

Meanwhile, Ukraine aid effectively became part of the 5% spending obligation.

“Ultimately, a formula was born that made its way into the summit’s resolution: "Allies reaffirm their enduring sovereign commitments to provide support to Ukraine, whose security contributes to ours, and, to this end, will include direct contributions towards Ukraine’s defence and its defence industry when calculating Allies’ defence spending,” he writes while referencing the Hague summit declaration.

“Trump is cringeworthy”

NV.ua journalist Natalia Rop’s impressions of the summit, shared with me, are even more curious.