Jonathan Beale
Defence correspondent, reporting from the Nato summit

This was a short Nato summit with a single clear purpose. To deliver on the one thing President Donald Trump has been demanding - that Europe and Canada spend more on their own defence.

Nato allies promised to raise defence related spending to 5% of GDP by 2035. For more than a decade that target was just 2%. Most European leaders were keen to avoid a rift with the US president – who in the past has raised doubts about America’s commitment to Nato allies. But the final communique re-affirmed Nato's ironclad guarantee to collective defence.

Nato's chief Mark Rutte heaped praise on Trump and gave him the credit: “America expects European allies and Canada to contribute more. And that is exactly what we see them doing."

President Trump hailed it as a personal triumph, saying Nato was no longer a rip-off. “It’s a monumental win for the United States because we were carrying much more than our fair share. It was quite unfair actually. But this is a big win for Europe and for actually Western civilisation”.

Underlining the UK’s commitment to the US and the alliance, Keir Starmer confirmed the UK would purchase US jets - capable of carrying American owned and controlled tactical nuclear weapons. It marks the return of the RAF to nuclear deterrence for the first time in three decades, representing the biggest strengthening of our deterrence posture in a generation.

In reality, it’s also Vladimir Putin who has persuaded allies to ramp up defence spending. But while Russia was identified as a long-term threat, there was no direct mention of his war in Ukraine. President Trump has yet to deliver on his promise to bring an end to the conflict. But he still claimed he’d made the world safer.

This was a summit designed to keep America - Nato’s most powerful member - on side and to placate an unpredictable president. The question now is whether Europe can deliver.

• We're now ending our live coverage, but you can continue to read about the story in our main article: Nato agrees to ramp up defence spending and says collective security is 'ironclad'

Image source, Getty Images

When Volodymyr Zelensky met Donald Trump at the Oval Office back in February sporting a military-style black sweatshirt, the first thing Trump said to the Ukrainian president was: "You're all dressed up today."

It wasn't smart enough, however, for Brian Glenn, chief White House correspondent for conservative cable network Real America's Voice, who asked Zelensky: "Why don't you wear a suit?"

Zelensky has eschewed suits, button-down shirts and ties since the start of the full-scale Russian invasion of his country in 2022.

He says it's a show of solidarity with soldiers fighting the Russian army on the war's front lines.

But today, the Ukrainian leader adopted a more formal outfit, donning a black jacket, trousers and shirt as he met Nato leaders, including Donald Trump.

Image source, Reuters

Nick Beake
Reporting from the Nato summit

President Trump came to his press conference straight after a 45-minute meeting with President Zelensky.

And there was immediately more ammunition for those who argue the US leader is disproportionately influenced by the last person who’s spoken to him.

Trump lamented a “horrible situation” in Ukraine, claiming the country had “lost 7,000 soldiers in the past week” and that “life is disappearing” in the face of Russian attacks.

The US president went on to say of his conversation with Zelensky: “We had a little rough times sometimes, but he couldn't have been nicer” in an apparent reference to their infamous bust up in the Oval Office.

This was a big departure from the Trump who has falsely claimed Ukraine started the 2022 full-scale invasion and called Zelensky a dictator.

But the reality is that references to Russia’s culpability in invading Ukraine three years ago - which appeared in post-summit leaders’ agreements during Joe Biden’s term - were missing in The Hague declaration - a concession widely assumed to have been done to keep Donald Trump on side.

Donald Trump is heading back to Washington DC after attending the Nato summit in the Netherlands.

Footage shows the US president boarding Air Force One at Schiphol Airport outside Amsterdam.

He gives a quick wave, before entering the aircraft.

Anthony Reuben
BBC News

In his press conference at the Nato summit, President Trump threatened to make Spain “pay twice as much” as part of any future trade deal because the country has not agreed to increase its defence spending to 5% of national output by 2035 – which is the new target set by the alliance.

“Spain is the only country out of all of the countries that refuses to pay… but they’ll have to pay it back to us on trade,” he said.

Earlier, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said at his own news conference that Spain would achieve the military capabilities that Nato had asked it for, but was still talking about spending 2% of GDP on defence, which his government has agreed to do this year.

Spain was the lowest spender on defence in Nato last year, missing the 2024 target of 2%. It paid 1.2%.

You can read more about it here.

Threat posed by Russia fuels quantum leap in Nato defence spendingpublished at 16:42 British Summer Time

16:42 BST

Danny Aeberhard
Europe regional editor, BBC World Service

Image source, Getty Images

Nato Secretary General Mark Rutte said a far more ambitious defence spending target would fuel a quantum leap in the alliance's collective defence, citing the threat posed by Russia.

For more than a decade, the target was 2%, and some countries are only expected to hit that this year after considerable arm-twisting.

The new commitment comprises 3.5% of GDP on core defence, like troops and weapons, and 1.5% on a more nebulous category of security-related investments.

Donald Trump called it a "monumental win" for the United States - which he said had been paying an unfair share - but also a big win for Western civilisation.

On the side-lines of the summit, he's held bilateral talks with President Zelensky, which the Ukrainian leader described as "substantive".

Nato allies reaffirmed the need to provide enduring support to Ukraine.

Contributions to Kyiv can count towards their defence spending targets. But there was no specific condemnation of Russia in their communique.

Trump would not have agreed to it, as he still hopes to get President Putin to agree to a ceasefire.

Bruno Boelpaep
Reporting from the Nato summit

In his news conference, President Trump conceded that reaching a peace deal for Ukraine was more difficult than he had envisaged. “This is more difficult than people would have any idea. Vladimir Putin has been more difficult. It’s been more difficult than other wars” he said.

Trump then took a question from our colleague Myroslava Petsa from the BBC Ukrainian Service. She asked whether the US would be supplying Patriot air defence systems to Ukraine.

Donald Trump asked where she was from and took an interest in her personal situation, asking whether her husband was a soldier in Ukraine, to which she said yes. Then he replied that Ukraine was indeed asking for air defences from the US.

“They do want the Patriots. We are going to see if we can make some available. They are very hard to get and we need them too. We were supplying them to Israel, they are very effective,” he replied, falling short of any commitment.

“I wish you a lot of luck, I can see this is very upsetting to you and say hello to your husband," he concluded.

Image source, Reuters

Even though his country is not a Nato member, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky was at today's summit in the Netherlands.

In a post on X, Zelensky says he had a "long and substantive" meeting with Trump on the side-lines of the event, where the two discussed a Ukraine-Russia ceasefire.

"I thank Mr. President," he writes. "We appreciate the attention and the readiness to help bring peace closer."

Zelensky also met the leaders of the UK, Italy, Germany and France, as well as Nato chief Mark Rutte.

"We stand by Ukraine in its pursuit of peace and will continue to support Ukraine on its irreversible path to Nato membership," Rutte told reporters at the end of the summit.

Image source, Getty Images

On Iran:

• Flanked by Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, Trump once again suggested that the US's attack on Iran's nuclear sites had been "very successful"
• Making his point, the US president read a letter from the Israeli government nuclear regulator on stage, which claimed Iran's Fordo nuclear site had been left "totally inoperable"
• Trump and Hegseth then hit out at media for reporting a leaked Pentagon document that suggested the damage was more limited, with Hegseth suggesting that the evidence of the strike's impact is "buried under a mountain"

On Ukraine:

• Trump said he hopes to get the conflict "solved" and that it's vital that Nato money is spent on military hardware instead of bureaucracy
• After a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky just before his news conference, Trump said the Ukrainian president "couldn't have been nicer"
• Russian leader Vladimir Putin, meanwhile, also "really wants to end the war", Trump declared

On Nato defence spending:

• The US president was very critical of Spain, which has said it will not meet the 5% defence spending threshold agreed on by other Nato members by 2035, saying "they want a little bit of a free ride"
• He also said his stance on Nato had changed after seeing how much the leaders "love their countries", and added that he no longer thought the organisation was a "rip-off"

Image source, Reuters

A reporter from Sky News asks Trump about Nato chief Mark Rutte's comments earlier in which he called Trump "daddy".

"Do you regard your Nato allies as kind of children?" she asks.

Trump doesn't immediately answer the question, but says Rutte was being affectionate.

"You're my Daddy," he says to no-one in particular.

The reporter clarifies her question about whether he thinks his Nato allies can defend Europe without US help.

Trump says that they need some help in the beginning, and that they are going to "remember this day".

"They're smart," he concludes.

Image source, Bloomberg via Getty Images

Moving back to Iran, Trump is asked about the ground assessment of the Fordo nuclear site, which was hit by the US last week.

Trump is asked what his message is to the American intelligence community, after an early Pentagon assessment concluding that US strikes did not destroy the country's nuclear programme and probably only set it back by months.

Trump replies that “they didn’t see it – all they can do is take a guess.”

He says "the fire and brimstone is all underground”. The whole area around the site is “black with fire.”

He repeats his assertion that the nuclear material was “obliterated”.

The reporter presses him: “Do you have a message to the intelligence community in terms of unvarnished information getting to you?”

I would say "wait until you know the answer", Trump replies.

Trump then brings in Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, who praises the US pilots who dropped the bombs on Iran's nuclear sites. He then criticises CNN and the New York Times who "spin things to try to hurt Trump and our country”.

The leakers have agendas, he says. “All the evidence of what was just bombed is buried under a mountain,” Hegseth adds.

There's a question for Trump from the BBC's Ukrainian service.

Trump has a back and forth exchange with the journalist, who tells the president that her husband is a soldier stationed in Ukraine.

She asks Trump whether the US is ready to sell Patriot missiles to Ukraine.

The president says that he's going to see if the US can make some available, but admits they're "very hard to get".

"That's a very good question and I wish you a lot of luck, I can see how upsetting that is to you," he adds.

Trump says he hasn't ruled out the US contributing more to Ukrainian defence this year.

"We'll see what happens. Putin really wants to end this war, people are dying at levels that haven't been seen before," Trump says.

A reporter from Austrian national television asks Trump why he has not yet been able to end the war in Ukraine.

"Because it's more difficult than people have any idea," Trump replies, adding that Putin has been "more difficult".

"Frankly, I had some problems with Zelensky. You may have read about them," Trump says, referring to an angry exchange between the two men in the White House earlier this year.

Trump then cites other wars he says he ended: Israel and Iran, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and India and Pakistan.

"I ended that with a series of phone calls," he says, referring to India and Pakistan.

Image source, Reuters

Trump is asked by a journalist if he is satisfied with Spain, which has said it will not meet the 5% of GDP defence spending by 2035.

"I think it's terrible what Spain has done," he replies.

Spain's economy is doing very well, he says, "so I don’t know what the problem is".

When we negotiate with Spain on a trade deal, we're going to make Spain pay twice as much on trade, Trump says.

"They are great people," he says, but Spain is the only country that refuses to pay. "So they want a little bit of a free ride."

Spain’s stance is "unfair to Nato", he adds.

Trump is asked for his definition of Article 5, which states that Nato members will come to the defence of an ally that comes under attack, after he earlier appeared to cast doubt on the US's commitment to it.

Trump responds that he has watched the heads of the Nato countries display "unbelievable" love and passion for their countries over the last couple of days.

"They want to protect their country and they need the United States," he adds, before suggesting that the US is the "hottest country" in the world right now.

"I left here differently," he explains. "I left here saying that these people really love their countries, it's not a rip-off and we're here to help them protect their country."

Asked if he discussed a ceasefire with Zelensky during a meeting between the two before Trump's news conference, the US president says he did not but "just wanted to know how he was doing".

He acknowledges "rough times" in US and Ukrainian relations but says Zelensky "couldn't have been nicer".

Trump says thousands have died on both sides of the war and he believes Zelensky wants the conflict with Russia to end.

He goes on to say he will speak to Putin to "see if we can end it".

Trump says the White House will speak to Iran next week.

"We may sign an agreement, I dont know," he says. "To me, I don't think it's that necessary. I mean they had a war, they fought, now they've gone back to their world."

The only thing the US would be seeking, he adds, is "no nuclear".

"I said, Iran will not have nuclear. It's blown up. We blew it up to kingdom come. So I don't feel very strongly about it."

Trump is asked by a journalist what is next with Iran, and was Iran able to move any nuclear materials?

Trump replies that Iran did not move the material, adding it is very heavy and hard to move.

It is covered with granite and concrete and steel, he says.

The journalist then asks Trump if he would restart negotiations with Iran.

“The way I look at it, they fought and the war is done - they have had it”, Trump replies.

"I don't think it's necessary."

Trump then brings in US Secretary of State Marco Rubio to give an answer to the question too – Rubio says Trump will talk about peace to anyone.

Image source, AFP via Getty Images

Trump is next asked about Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has been described as an enemy by Nato Secretary General Mark Rutte.

Does the US president think that Putin has territorial ambitions beyond Ukraine?

"It's possible", Trump replies before adding that he thinks the Russian leader wants to "settle".

Trump adds that Putin called to offer to help with Iran, but he declined.

"I consider him a person that I think has been misguided," the president adds, noting that he thinks he'll be settling with Russia on Ukraine.