Jonathan Beale
Defence correspondent, reporting from Washington DC

Nato’s most senior military officer says the arrival of F-16 fighter jets in Ukraine this summer, as announced at the summit in Washington, will help the country defend its troops on the frontline and conduct offensive operations in the future.

But Admiral Rob Bauer, the chair of Nato’s military committee, warns “if people think this is a wonder weapon that will change the course of the war the day after they arrive, then I’ll have to disappoint them”.

Admiral Bauer tells the BBC the US-made jets would make it more difficult for Russian fighters to attack Ukrainian forces on the frontline. But he warns that F-16s in Ukraine would also become a target for Russia.

He says “like every weapon system we have given Ukraine, they can become a target”, adding the Russians had also been targeting US made Patriot air defence systems.

“The Russians are not stupid and they will try to hit what is a danger to them,” he says.

Image source, Pool

More from Keir Starmer’s interview with the BBC’s Chris Mason now.

Starmer is asked about his statement that the UK has a "cast iron commitment" to spending 2.5% of national income on defence. Mason asks how ironclad it can be when the plan needs to be reviewed and no timescale has been given.

The PM says the “commitment is absolutely ironclad to that 2.5%”.

Starmer says a strategic review is “really important because there’s information that we weren’t privy to when we were in opposition which we are now privy to”.

He says there has to be a “road plan”.

“What I don't want to do is what has been done in the past, which is to set an arbitrary date without a pathway. I don't think that’s serious,” he says.

The PM reaffirms that it will “absolutely” be delivered but “simply plucking a date is the politics of yesterday”.

Image source, Pool

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer has been speaking to the BBC’s political editor Chris Mason at the Nato summit in Washington.

Starmer is asked about people implying that Joe Biden is "senile", after some Democrats called for Biden to step aside following his poorly received performance in the first 2024 presidential debate against Donald Trump.

"No," Starmer responds.

"We had a really good bilateral yesterday. We were billed for 45 minutes and went on for the best part of an hour," he says, adding that Biden was on "really good form" and was "across all the detail".

Starmer says Biden has shown "real leadership".

The president has “led through some of the most challenging issues actually that we are facing globally”, he adds.

"I was actually really pleased to have the opportunity to be really clear about the special relationship we have and our longstanding commitment to Nato at this really important time."

Tom Bateman
Reporting from the Nato summit

Image source, EPA

What Joe Biden has presided over here at the Nato summit is a message of unity. That's not an easy thing actually, this is quite a disparate military alliance. So that in itself is an achievement.

But the fundamental problem is, every time he steps on a stage, every time he holds a press conference as he's going to do later today, everyone is watching, including frankly many of the delegates here.

The focus has gone beyond whether he is going to make it to the end of the speech without a fluff, or forgetting a line, but to whether he is going to get to the end of a sentence.

The American media has been, for two weeks straight now, running this story almost as the daily lead about the divisions within his party and the questions over his age.

The longer that goes on the more it undermines all those other messages of unity, particularly here at the Nato summit.

So, you have what should be for the White House a story about the US at the core of Nato - a projection of America's power - instead becoming an issue about the focus on the frailty of its leader.

Tom Bateman
Reporting from the Nato summit

What we had last night in terms of the output of this meeting, was what they call the communiqué, the agreement of the 32 members.

The headline there was really about Ukraine, and had much stronger wording than we had last year about the intentions of this alliance to make the Ukrainians members.

But what we didn't get is what President Zelensky has always called for, which is a clear timetable, a formal invitation. It wasn't that, it was a so-called "irreversible path", or a "bridge to membership". There were also much clearer pledges around military assistance in the meantime to Ukraine.

But crucially, I think, President Zelensky walks away from this at the end of today just as disappointed as he was last year.

Although I think they probably feel they've stage managed all that a bit better this year, with him having come here and that sense of upset not being so clear as it was last time.

Image source, EPA

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has praised the announced deployment of US long-range missiles to Germany, saying it was a necessary step to secure the country.

The agreement - which was made public during this week's Nato summit in Washington - will see the US deploy a variety of missile systems on German soil from 2026 onwards.

"We have long been grappling with the question of how we can ensure a deterrent that secures our own alliance territory, but also Germany, with conventional weapons," Scholz told journalists in Washington.

"This decision has been a long time in the making and comes as no real surprise to anyone involved in security and peace policy," he added.

Moscow has criticised the announcement and said it escalates tensions.

In a statement, the Kremlin said the missile deployment was a "very serious threat" from Nato that would require "response measures".

While the meeting of the North Atlantic Council gets under way, we can bring you more images now of the leaders as they arrived at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center.

Image source, EPA

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

What lies behind China’s rebuke to Natopublished at 15:59 British Summer Time 11 July

15:59 BST 11 July

Frank Gardner
Security correspondent

Nato’s final summit communique has touched a raw nerve in Beijing.

Accusations of cyber espionage, hybrid warfare and China’s covert assistance to Moscow’s war effort in Ukraine are all lies and "Cold War" propaganda, according to Beijing.

Nato, it maintains, also has no business getting involved in the Asia Pacific arena where its "meddling" can only upset peace and security.

Leaving aside the irony that Chinese troops are currently exercising in Belarus, close to Poland’s Nato border and over 4,000 miles from Beijing, this spat can only draw China closer to Moscow and those countries hostile to the West.

China has already achieved a military takeover of parts of the South China Sea and is currently threatening the self-governing democracy of Taiwan. Pro-western countries in the region, notably Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and the Philippines, would like to see more western support to push back against China’s growing power. But China is determined to resist this.

So now the challenge for Nato and Western leaders will be how to help bolster their allies in that region without provoking a conflict with Beijing that could have catastrophic consequences for the global economy.

Image source, Nato/ YouTube

We've just heard a very quick address from Nato Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, ahead of a meeting of the leaders of North Atlantic Council, Indo-Pacific Partners and the EU.

Stoltenberg describes the meeting as a “demonstration of the strong and deepening cooperation” between the member states.

He says the summit will address shared security challenges, including the Ukraine war, China’s support of Russia and global authoritarian powers.

“We must work ever more closely together to preserve peace”, he says before calling the news conference to a close, and signalling that the rest of the meeting will take place behind closed doors.

Nato Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg is about to give his opening remarks at the North Atlantic Council meeting.

There are lots of important figures gathered in the Walter E. Washington Convention Centre to hear his comments.

We've spied UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, among others.

We'll bring you the key lines here, and you can follow along by pressing watch live at the top of this page.

There appears to be some delay to the meeting of the North Atlantic Council in Washington, which was originally due to start at 15:00 BST (10:00 EST).

World leaders have begun gathering and talking among one another before the meeting gets under way. Here are a few pictures:

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

If you're just joining us, here are some of the main lines to come out of the Nato summit in Washington DC today:

• China has strongly rejected Nato's accusation that it is a "decisive enabler" of Russia's war in Ukraine, saying the bloc should "stop hyping up the so-called China threat"
• Hungary won't put up with an "anti-China" Nato, its foreign minister said, adding that if Ukraine becomes a member, the bloc's unity will be weakened
• Nato cannot ignore China and North Korea's role in the Ukraine war, the EU's foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, said
• The Kremlin has reacted angrily to Nato's pledge of more military aid and assistance to Ukraine, with spokesman Dmitry Peskov saying Europe and America "did not support dialogue... or peace"

It's still relatively early in Washington, and we still have comments from the bloc's chief Jens Stoltenberg, and a news conference with US President Joe Biden, which is widely being viewed as his biggest test since his bungled debate against Donald Trump two weeks ago.

Image source, Getty Images

Ukraine's top presidential aide has said that the country is "satisfied" with the outcome of the Nato summit in Washington.

Russia's invasion of Ukraine was top of the agenda at the summit yesterday, with Nato members supporting an "irreversible path" to future membership of the bloc for Ukraine.

Nato members also committed 40bn euros ($43.3bn, £33.7bn) in aid to Ukraine in the next year, including F-16 fighter jets and air defence support.

Andryi Yermak, the chief of the Ukrainian president's cabinet, says the "next step" should be an invitation to Ukraine to join Nato.

He adds that he hopes Ukraine's allies remove all restrictions on the use of long-range weapons inside Russia, saying that it would be a "game changer".

We can bring you pictures now from a meeting of foreign ministers taking place as part of Nato's 75th anniversary summit in Washington.

Among those gathered was the new UK Foreign Secretary, David Lammy, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borell and German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock.

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

Steve Rosenberg
Russia editor

Image source, Reuters

Moscow has reacted angrily to Nato’s pledge of additional military aid and assistance to Ukraine.

Speaking to reporters, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov says: “Russia’s opponents in Europe and America did not support dialogue…or peace.”

He adds that with the alliance insisting that Ukraine is on “irreversible path” to Nato membership, “it was clear that Western leaders were seeking Russia’s strategic defeat".

Moscow, he says, “would respond with coordinated measures... to keep Nato in check", providing no details of what those might be.

Writing on social media, Russia’s former President Dmitry Medvedev says Russia should ensure that the “irreversible path of Ukraine to Nato ends either with the disappearance of Ukraine, or Nato, or better still both".

For context: Russia sees Nato as a Western enemy and accuses it of expanding to threaten Russia. Nato has always maintained that it is not at war with Russia, nor looking for conflict with it but will act to protect its alliance members and call out Russian actions and disinformation.

Image source, Getty Images

Nato cannot afford to ignore the role China and North Korea are playing in the Ukraine war, the EU's foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, has warned.

Speaking a little earlier, he mentioned China and Russia's "unlimited friendship" and said North Korea is "one of the most important suppliers of war material to Russia".

With that in mind, he added that Nato will discuss with its allies in the Indo-Pacific area how Nato and European countries can "ensure the stability of the region".

Russia's President Vladimir Putin has met both China and North Korea's leaders this year.

He travelled to China in May, where Xi Jinping warmly welcomed his "old friend". The following month, Putin visited Pyongyang, where he and Kim Jong Un declared their relationship was at "a new, high level of alliance".

Image source, EPA

World leaders are slowly starting to trickle into the Walter E. Washington Convention Center ahead of the second working session at the Nato summit in Washington.

So far, we've seen South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol walk in. Nato Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg and New Zealand's Prime Minister Christopher Luxon also held a brief bilateral meeting.

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

Hungary's foreign minister Peter Szijjarto says his country will not tolerate Nato becoming an "anti-China" bloc.

It comes after Nato members accused China of being a "decisive enabler" for Russia's war against - China’s foreign ministry in return accused the bloc of smearing the country with “fabricated disinformation".

Szijjarto adds that Nato's unity will be "weakened" if Ukraine becomes a member, speaking to Hungary's state TV in Washington DC today.

Yesterday, Nato members pledged to support an "irreversible path" for Ukraine to join the bloc in future.

Hungary has been a Nato member since 1999, and has blocked several Nato attempts to help Ukraine fight against Russia's aggression.

Image source, Reuters

Let's return now to our headline story.

Nato issued some of its harshest remarks yet on China's involvement in the war in Ukraine yesterday, accusing Beijing of being a "decisive enabler" for Russia.

This prompted an angry response from China's mission to the EU, which called on Nato to "stop hyping up the so-called China threat, and provoking confrontation and rivalry".

China’s foreign ministry spokesperson, Lin Jian, said today the alliance had been smearing his country with “fabricated disinformation”.

China also told Nato to stay out of the Asia-Pacific, saying the alliance's efforts to strengthen military and security ties with China's neighbours were undermining the country's interests, as well as peace and stability in the region.

The comments come as Beijing holds military exercises with Belarus, which Russian President Vladimir Putin used as a springboard for his invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

• Read more on how China is supporting Russia in its war against Ukraine here

Image source, EPA

Since Russia's invasion in 2022, Nato has not sent troops to Ukraine or enforced a no-fly zone over the country, for fear of being pulled into a direct conflict with Russia.

However, individual members have supplied arms to help Ukraine defend itself.

The German research organisation the Kiel Institute, external says the US has allocated 50.4bn euros (£42.6bn) for military support to Ukraine, while European countries - Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, Poland and the UK - have allocated 32bn euros (£27bn).

The US, UK, Germany and Turkey and others have provided anti-tank weapons, missile defence systems, artillery guns, tanks and military drones. The US, UK and France have also supplied long-range missiles.

At the Nato summit in Washington, President Joe Biden said the US would partner with Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Romania to donate Patriot missile batteries and other systems to bolster Ukraine's air defences.