NATO Summit in Ankara: Alliance Pledges €140 Billion for Ukraine Through 2027

A €140 Billion Package for Ukraine

Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan opened the gathering with a ceremonial banquet on Tuesday evening in the sprawling presidential palace in Ankara, which local hosts noted contains 1,150 rooms. Heads of state and government from the alliance's 32 member countries, along with several partner states and EU representatives, attended the dinner before the formal session of the North Atlantic Council the next day.

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte described a 'great sense of community' among the 32 leaders. 'Wir hatten das Gefühl, dass dieses Bündnis mehr denn je zusammenhält', Rutte told reporters after the meeting. 'Rutte: "Starkes Gefühl der Einheit"' He later added, when asked about Iran and a possible ceasefire violation, that 'Wenn es einen Waffenstillstand gibt und der Iran diesen im Grunde verletzt, halte ich es für absolut entscheidend, dass die USA entschlossen reagieren', so Rutte.

U.S. President Donald Trump struck a less harmonious note publicly. Before the start of the formal session, Trump said he was 'sehr verärgert' with the alliance, citing the Greenland dispute and what he characterized as insufficient allied help against Iran. 'Und ich bin nicht zufrieden mit der NATO, weil sie uns nicht gegen den Hauptunterstützerstaat des Terrorismus, den Iran, helfen wollten', sagte er. He later described the Iranian leadership as 'Abschaum' when asked about the ceasefire.

Article 5 Reaffirmed

Despite the turbulence at the opening, the meeting moved on to substantive business. Allies unveiled a series of new arms contracts valued at more than $50 billion, with German and Polish defense spending singled out by Trump for praise. 'Trump lobt offenbar deutsche Verteidigungsausgaben', according to Reuters reporting cited by the agency. 'Wir wollen bei Ihnen bleiben', Trump said of the alliance after the session.

The summit declaration, intended to fit on a single DIN-A4 page according to German media, contained five central points. First, the leaders reaffirmed their 'unverbrüchliches Bekenntnis' to Article 5 of the Washington Treaty, the alliance's mutual-defense clause. 'Ein Angriff auf einen ist ein Angriff auf alle', the text stated, with 'Frieden, Sicherheit und Wohlstand aller Mitglieder' founded 'auf unserer Einigkeit, unserer Solidarität und unserer vereinten Kraft'.

Second, the declaration acknowledged that European allies and Canada are taking on a larger share of the alliance's defense burden. 'Die europäischen Verbündeten und Kanada übernehmen in Zusammenarbeit mit den Vereinigten Staaten mehr Verantwortung für die Verteidigung des Bündnisses', the text read. Published figures suggested European NATO members and Canada will spend roughly $634 billion, or about €556 billion, on defense in the current year.

Industrial Capacity and Spending

Third, the allies committed to expanding joint industrial capacity. 'Die Verbündeten haben vereinbart, "unsere gemeinsamen Fertigungskapazitäten auszuweiten und mit der Industrie zugunsten schnellerer Innovationen zusammenzuarbeiten"', the declaration stated. The pledge was framed under the slogan 'ein stärkeres Europa innerhalb einer stärkeren Nato' and described by German Chancellor Friedrich Merz as ending 'die Trittbrettfahrerei' of European members.

Fourth, the declaration addressed the Iran crisis in a single sentence. 'Die Verbündeten bekräftigen erneut, dass der Iran niemals eine Kernwaffe besitzen darf, und rufen Iran dazu auf, die Freiheit der Schifffahrt in der Straße von Hormus uneingeschränkt zu achten.' Trump used the same platform to warn of new U.S. operations against Iran, even as his own military said it had struck 80 targets despite an agreed ceasefire, raising the question of whether the truce still held.

Iran in a Single Sentence

Fifth, the declaration highlighted Ukraine's contribution to transatlantic security. 'Die Ukraine trägt zur transatlantischen Sicherheit bei, und die Verbündeten stehen geeint in ihrer unerschütterlichen Unterstützung für die Ukraine bei der Verteidigung ihrer Freiheit, Souveränität und territorialen Unversehrtheit', the text said. Germany's government has already earmarked €11.5 billion this year for artillery, drones, armored vehicles and other equipment, with another €70 billion to come from national budgets in NATO capitals across 2026 and 2027.

The €80 billion shortfall between the €140 billion allied pledge and national contributions underlines how much financing still depends on individual capitals. According to German defense ministry calculations, around €80 billion remains to be shouldered from national budgets. The CDU politician Merz, who attended the summit, predicted before the meeting that 'Dem Kreml dürfte langsam klar sein, dass sich Russland in diesem Krieg nicht durchsetzen und seine Kriegsziele nicht erreichen wird'.

Ukraine's NATO Path Softened

Ukraine's path to NATO membership, however, was notably softer than in earlier summits. In 2024, NATO had spoken of an 'irreversible path' for Ukraine toward membership and stated 'Die Zukunft der Ukraine ist in der Nato.' In Ankara, the declaration dropped that language, with the 2025 summit under Trump already having ended without a NATO membership commitment. By 2027, the declaration said, allied military aid should continue at a level 'mindestens auf diesem Niveau'.

The summit also produced a defense deal with implications beyond Europe's eastern flank. Trump suggested the United States could sell F-35 fighter jets to Turkey, a sensitive issue because Ankara had been removed from the F-35 program in 2019 after purchasing the Russian S-400 air-defense system. 'Ob auch die Kampfjets an die Türkei verkauft werden, "werden wir noch entscheiden"', Trump said. 'Ein solcher Deal sei "sicher etwas, das wir in Erwägung ziehen"', he added.

F-35 Question and Greenland Dispute

On Greenland, Trump reiterated U.S. interest without softening the underlying dispute. 'Dass Grönland nicht unter US-Kontrolle stehe, sei ein "großes Problem für uns"', Trump said. Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen pushed back firmly: 'Grönland steht natürlich nicht zum Verkauf', stellte Frederiksen klar. She added that Denmark was prepared to defend every inch of NATO territory, including the Kingdom of Denmark.

Several German media outlets pointed to a gap between Trump's public and private demeanor. 'Nach Angaben aus Teilnehmerkreisen sei Trump hinter verschlossenen Türen ganz anders aufgetreten, "in keiner Weise vorwurfsvoll"', the dpa news agency reported. When asked how dinner with Trump had gone, Frederiksen answered simply: 'Freundlich'. The German press framed the public performance as standing 'in einem gewissen Kontrast' to the internal mood.

The gathering closed with Trump praising the host. 'Wir haben gerade hier in der Türkei einen sehr erfolgreichen Gipfel abgeschlossen', the U.S. president said, thanking Erdoğan and Rutte. Trump also hailed the alliance as 'europäischer denn je' after the summit. Whether that judgment survives the unresolved disputes over Iran, Greenland and Ukraine's longer-term membership remains an open question heading into the next NATO leaders' meeting.

Brussels and Berlin both face immediate pressure to deliver on the new pledges. Defense ministries from European NATO capitals are expected in the coming months to translate the €70 billion annual figures into binding budget lines, with parliamentary votes in several countries likely to delay disbursement. The Ankara declaration set no firm deadline beyond the end of 2027 for the program to remain in place, leaving each ally to calibrate its own timetable.