Summary of the day so far
Donald Trump welcomed Friedrich Merz to the White House on Thursday for talks on Ukraine and Russia, tariffs and defence spending, kicking off a meeting seen largely as successful as the German chancellor emerged unscathed without the fireworks that have characterised Trump’s other Oval Office meetings with foreign leaders.
Trump voiced doubts about the potential success of peace talks, saying it may be better to let Ukraine and Russia “fight for a while” rather than pursue peace immediately. He likened the conflict to “two young children fighting like crazy in a park”.
Trump said he will continue supporting Ukraine and that he had urged Putin not to retaliate after Ukraine’s unpredecented drone attack last weekend. “I said ’don’t do it,’” he told reporters.
Trump described Merz as a “very great” representative of Germany and also “difficult”. He said US troops would remain in Germany and said it was positive that Berlin was spending more money on defence.
Merz urged Trump to increase pressure on Russia, as he sought to remind the US president that the violence he abhorred seeing was a result of Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
Merz presented Trump with a gift: a facsimile of the birth certificate of Trump’s grandfather, Friedrich Trump, who was born in Germany in 1869.
Merz said he and Trump “agree on this war” and that the US president is “the key person in the world who can really [stop it] by putting pressure on Russia.”
Meanwhile, Russia’s ambassador to the UK, Andrei Kelin, warned that Ukraine’s recent drone attack risk escalating the conflict to “World War III” as he partly blamed the UK.
The head of the UN’s nuclear watchdog (IAEA) said his team at Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant in Ukraine heard repeated rounds of gunfire that appeared to be aimed at drones reportedly attacking the site’s training centre.
The IAEA team on site reported hearing at least five explosions between 11.30am and 1.45pm local time, each preceded by gunfire, according to a statement.
There were no immediate reports of any damage to the centre.
Friedrich Merz appears to have done his job well, according to some German media voices, following his meeting with Donald Trump in the White House.
Maria Fiedler, deputy head of Der Spiegel’s Berlin bureau, had this bit of snap analysis of the German chancellor’s Oval Office debut:
Merz may well have already completed the trickiest part. While he wasn’t the center of attention - the US media aren’t interested in him - he made his points.
He flattered Trump, highlighting his importance to ending the war in Ukraine. He showed himself grateful for the US’s historical achievement ridding Germany of the Nazi dictatorship. And he took note of advice from other heads of state who previously visited Trump: don’t talk too much, Trump has a short attention span.
It remains to be seen, whether he can get concrete results behind the scenes now, for example for Ukraine.
Russia’s ambassador to the UK warned that Ukraine’s recent drone attack risk escalating the conflict to “World War III” as he partly blamed the UK.
Andrei Kelin, in an interview with Sky News on Thursday, said Ukraine’s actions “are bringing the conflict to a different level of escalation” and that Kyiv should “not try to engulf World War III”.
“That’s the very worst case scenario that we can imagine,” he said.
Kelin said Ukraine must have had assistance in last weekend’s unprecedented drone attack, as he pointed the finger at London.
This kind of attack involves “provision of very high technology, so-called geospaced data, which only can be done by those who have it in possession. And this is London and Washington,” he said, adding:
I don’t believe that America [is involved], that has been denied by President Trump, definitely, but it has not been denied by London. We perfectly know how much London is involved, how deeply British forces are involved in working together with Ukraine.
Trump compares Russia-Ukraine war to 'two young children fighting in a park'
Donald Trump, speaking to reporters during his meeting with Friedrich Merz, compared the Russia-Ukraine conflict to “two young children fighting”.
“Sometimes you see two young children fighting like crazy,” the US president said.
They hate each other, and they’re fighting in a park, and you try and pull them apart. They don’t want to be pulled.
“Sometimes you’re better off letting them fight for a while and then pulling them apart,” he added.
Trump said he used that same analogy during a conversation with Vladimir Putin on Wednesday.
I said, ‘President, maybe you have to keep fighting and suffering a lot, because both sides are suffering, before you pull them apart, before they’re able to be pulled apart.’
Here’s some more analysis from the first meeting between US president Donald Trump and Germany’s chancellor, Friedrich Merz, at the White House.
The meeting struck a “very friendly” tone and avoided what some had feared would be an uncomfortable encounter, according to Deutsche Welle’s Washington DC bureau chief Ines Pohl. She said:
All the fear that he [Merz] might be ambushed by this fireside, didn’t happen. This meeting between the two was a huge success from the German perspective.
She said that Merz was able to flatter Trump by saying, “You are the most important person to end that terrible war [between Russia and Ukraine],” while also emphasising that Russia was the aggressor, not Ukraine.
Merz meets Trump after 'historic' Nato decisions in Brussels - day so far
The German chancellor, Friedrich Merz, is meeting the US president, Donald Trump, at the White House this evening for talks on Ukraine and Russia, and trade, among other things (17:41).
Trump said the pair was “unhappy” about the state of war, but insisted they would be successful in stopping the bloodshed (17:50).
The US president also suggested he would be happy to keep US troops in Germany (18:00) amid concerns about the on-going review of the US force posture (12:25).
The chancellor gifted Trump a fascimile of the birth certificate of Trump’s German grandfather, Friedrich Trump (18:35).
Earlier, Nato defence ministers agreed a “historic” change to capability targets amid a broader push to increase defence spending to 5% at this month’s summit in The Hague (17:19).
Earlier in the day, the Nato secretary general Mark Rutte said the new target would apply to all countries, including the US and the UK.
On Monday, Rutte will meet the UK prime minister Keir Starmer.
And that’s all from me, Jakub Krupa in London, but Léonie Chao-Fong in Washington will guide you through the next developments.
If you have any tips, comments or suggestions, email me at jakub.krupa@theguardian.com.
I am also on Bluesky at @jakubkrupa.bsky.social and on X at @jakubkrupa.
Updated
And if you are wondering what is this framed document that Merz gave Trump as a gift, here’s a handy video from the chancellor himself explaining the story behind it.
It’s a facsimile of the birth certificate of Trump’s German grandfather, Friedrich Trump, who later changed his name to Frederick.
He says:
This will be my gift for American President Donald Trump and my visit to Washington, when I meet him for the first time. This is his grandfather’s birth certificate with an English translation. It was created by the Federal Foreign Office of the Federal Republic of Germany. The calligraphy is truly sensational.
Merz's visit at White House - snap analysis
And that’s it, they wrap up here.
Merz emerges unscathed, as he chose not to challenge Trump on some of his comments about the alleged disparity in the value of support from the US and Europe, but focused on their similarities and shared views instead.
But he conveys a strong, positive message on Ukraine, and got Trump to say he is “with Ukraine” and suggest he would be prepared to keep US troops in Germany.
Good enough, surely?
Updated
We agree on 'how terrible this war is,' Merz says, as he lauds Trump as 'key person' to stop it
Merz finally gets a say too, as he says “we both agree on this war and how terrible this war is, and we are both looking for ways to stop it very soon.”
He says Trump is “the key person in the world who can really [stop it] by putting pressure on Russia,” and adds he will want to discuss this in more detail in bilateral talks.
He adds:
“And I think … we have the duty to do something on that now, to stop it after three and a half years, which is really terrible.
Look at the kids, the kids which were kidnapped from Ukraine to Russia. This is this is all terrible.
And so we are talking about instruments, measures, what we can do, and my personal view is clear on that we are on the side of Ukraine, and we are trying to get them stronger and stronger, just to make Putin stop this war.”
'I'm with Ukraine,' Trump declares
Trump gets asked if he will continue to support Ukraine.
“Yeah, I’m with Ukraine. We just signed a big deal on rare earth with Ukraine, and…
You know what I’m for, stopping killing, really, that’s what I’m for again, a war that would have never started, should have never started.”
He talks about the support for Ukraine from the US and Europe offering potentially questionable calculations, but then goes back to the main point:
“It’s a little bit money, but not the money. The big thing, the big thing is the death,” he says.
Merz says Nord Stream 2 was 'a mistake'
Continuing his comments, Trump mentions the Nord Stream 2 pipeline again and that he stopped it from operating.
“It was a mistake,” Merz admits.
Trump acknowledges his comments and continues:
“I used to go with Angela, I’d say, Well, wait a minute, we’re spending all this money to defend you against Russia, and then you’re giving Russia billions of dollars a month. What kind of a deal is that?”
Trump gets asked about if he would put more sanctions on Russia.
He says he will be “very, very tough” if it becomes clear that the war will not end soon.
But, in a comment likely to alarm Ukraine’s allies, he adds: “it could be on both countries, to be honest, it takes two to tango.”
He then says:
“We’re going to be very tough, whether it’s Russia or anybody else, we’re going to be very tough, that’s a bloodbath that’s going on over there.”
He then uses a hockey analogy, of allowing the two sides to have a go at each other for a bit, before intervening.
But he says it’s all difficult.
“There’s some bad blood between the two. I have to deal with it and the chancellor has to deal with it, it’s incredible [as] … there’s a great hatred between those two, between those two men, but between the warring parties, great hatred.”
He suggests Putin told him “we have no choice but to attack” in response to the latest Ukrainian attacks inside Russia.
“And it’s probably not going to be pretty. I don’t like it. I said, Don’t do it. You shouldn’t do it. You should stop it. But again, there’s a lot of hatred.”
Trump also gets asked about Russian president Vladimir Putin.
He repeats his usual lines and claims that it would have never happened with him in the White House and so on.
But he doesn’t answer the question directly.
“I’ve been saying that for a long time, the amount of death in that war is far greater than the news has been reporting. Or that, frankly, that either side has been reported. It’s a very sad thing,” he says.
Merz is much more focused as he says he is here “to talk with you later on how we could contribute” to ending the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
He says it’s the D-Day anniversary tomorrow – which Trump jokes was “not a pleasant day for you” – and he wants to talk with Trump about “what we can do jointly, and we are ready to do what we can.”
“You know that we gave support to Ukraine and that we are looking for more pressure on Russia, the European Union did, and we should talk about that,” he says.
“We will talk about it,” Trump replies.
Trump gets asked about Elon Musk’s criticism of his financial plans and he goes into a level of detail that probably goes beyond the Europe blog.
But what is interesting is that he says “Elon and I had a great relationship,” and adds “I don’t know if we will any more”.
He later says:
“I’ll tell you, he’s not the first, people leave my administration, and they love us, and then at some point they miss it so badly, and some of them embrace it, and some of them actually become hostile.
I don’t know what it is, it’s sort of Trump derangement syndrome, I guess they call it, but we have it with others too.
They leave and they wake up in the morning, and the glamour is gone, the whole world is different, and they become hostile. I don’t know what it is.”
Updated
Trump gets asked if he will keep US troops in Germany, and he says “the answer is yet, we will talk about that, but if they’d like to have them there, we have a lot of them.”
“You think that’s good economic development. They’re highly paid troops, and they spend a lot of money in Germany.
The relationship with Germany is very important. Yeah, we will be doing that, no problem.”
Trump gets asked if he is prepared to put more pressure on Russia.
He says “I’m the one that ended Nord Stream 2, going to a place called Germany – come to think, sorry I did that – but I ended Nord Stream 2, nobody else did.”
Trump gets asked about his expectations of Merz.
He says “very, very good man to deal with,” and “difficult” but in a “positive” way.
“He’s a very great representative of Germany. I think all we want is just going to have a good relationship. The rest will just sort of follow very easily.
We’ll have a good trade deal. I mean, I guess that will be mostly determined by the European Union, but you’re a very big part of that. You’ll be involved, but we’ll end up, hopefully with a trade deal or, or we’ll do something.”
We are 'unhappy' with Russia-Ukraine, but 'we are going to be successful in stopping bloodshed,' Trump says
Now over to the White House, where Trump is taking Germany’s Merz through the customary obstacle course run that has now become the Oval Office meeting with the press.
Trump begins congratulating Merz on winning the election in February, and says the pair often talked about “the problems of the world outside of Germany,” specifically name checking the Russian invasion on Ukraine.
“It’s not good. He’s unhappy about it. I’m unhappy about it, but I think eventually we’re going to be successful in stopping the bloodshed,” he says.
Merz thanks for the invite, says he was in the White House first in 1982, and he is happy to be back.
He references Trump’s family links with Germany, and we’re going into Q&A.
Updated
Finally, Rutte gets asked about that hybrid strategy I told you about earlier (15:03).
He stresses the importance of responding to hybrid risks, such as jamming of commercial airplanes in parts of Nato airspace, cyber-attacks or even assassination attempts like with the Skripals in 2018.
He says the allies need to “know what is happening” and how to respond to them.
And that’s it.
Updated
Germany's Merz arrives at the White House
As Rutte is continuing his Nato briefing in Brussels, I am also keeping an eye on what’s going on at the White House.
German chancellor Friedrich Merz has just arrived for his talks with Donald Trump, and they offered a thumbs up to the reporters.
I will bring you the key lines from their chat here.
Updated
We need to spend, produce more or we could be under threat in three, four, five years, Rutte says
Rutte says the change in attitude in the last few years, particularly since Russian invasion of Ukraine, is “staggering.”
And he warns that war-time Russia “produces, in core ammunition …, in three months what the whole of Nato, a 25 times bigger economy, produces in a year.”
“If we don’t take actions now, if we don’t do this now, … the next few years we are fine, but … otherwise three, four, five years from now, we are really under threat,” he says.
Rutte gets asked if he expects any pushback on the 5% target.
He says there’s “broad support” and “near consensus,” but adds that ‘s normal with a decision of this magnitude, which he insists that is “historic.”
“We use this word often, historic, but I think we are allowed today to use that word, that the decision today is historic. When you look at the capability targets we agreed on, this is such an enormous increase,” he says.
He says he wants the summit to confirm the alliance is “splashing” on “strong, more lethal spending” to “defend ourselves.”
He says there will also be more focus on producing more.
Updated
Asked about Ukraine, Rutte says the ministers discussed the on-going support for the country.
“Today, we had a Nato-Ukraine council meeting with the defence ministers. It was very good.
We really went into detail [on] how do we make sure that the support for Ukraine is not only there now, but is also there to stay? How do we make sure collectively, that if what we all hope will happen and we are really commending President Trump for his efforts here that a long term ceasefire or even a peace deal would happen, how do we make sure that Ukraine has what it needs for that peace deal to be durable?
These were the types of issues we discussed. There was a widespread support, again, for what Ukraine is doing, and total condemnation of the Russian unprovoked onslaught on Ukraine.”
Rutte gets asked again about the 1.5% element with reporters suggesting it’s just a trick to get the total number up and reach Trump’s 5% ambition.
He disagrees, stressing that 3.5% will already result in a significant increase to address “many, many gaps” in capabilities, but he also stresses the importance of the additional 1.5%.
“Our supreme allied commander Cavoli said, of course you need the core defence spending, but let’s be honest with each other, if a tank is not able to cross a bridge, if our societies are not prepared, if you are not able to really develop the defence industrial base, then 3.5% is great, but then you [still] cannot really defend yourselves,” he explains.
That’s where the 1.5% comes in for non-core deference spending, he explains.
Rutte gets asked if the US will also commit to the new 5% target – well, 3.5% + 1.5%, which seems to be an important nuance as it gives countries some flexibility there – and he confirms that is the plan.
The latest available Nato figures had the US at 3.4% in 2024.
Updated
Nato ministers agreed 'ambitious capability targets,' Rutte says
Rutte says Nato ministers agreed on “an ambitious new set of capability targets,” describing what allies “need to invest in over the coming years … to keep our deterrence and defence strong, and our one billion people safe.”
But he adds that “agreeing on what we need was a vital first step to deliver on these needs,” with funding decisions to follow at The Hague summit later this month.
“I will propose an overall investment plan that will total 5% of GDP on defence investment – 3.5% of GDP for core defence spending and 1.5% of GDP per year in defence and security related investments, like infrastructure and industry,” he says.
He also repeats Nato’s commitment to support Ukraine, and thanks outgoing SACEUR Christopher G. Cavoli and welcomes his successor Grynkewich.
Nato’s secretary general Mark Rutte is now briefing the media after today’s meeting of the alliance’s defence ministers.
I will bring you the key lines here.
Updated
Russia will respond to Ukraine’s daring drone operation “how and when” it sees fit, the Kremlin has warned, seeming to confirm reports Vladimir Putin had told Donald Trump that Moscow was obliged to retaliate.
Ukraine has been bracing for retaliation after its SBU security service carried out a surprise drone strike over the weekend, targeting four airbases and damaging up to 20 Russian warplanes deep inside the country, according to US officials.
The Kremlin spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, asked on Thursday what Moscow’s response would be, said: “How and when our military deems it appropriate.”
Trump said Putin had “strongly” told him that Russia would respond to the recent attacks on its airfields, during an unannounced phone call on Wednesday.
The US embassy in Ukraine warned of a continuing risk of “significant airstrikes” and advised its citizens to exercise caution.
US Grynkewich picked as next Supreme Allied Commander Europe
Meanwhile, president Donald Trump’s administration announced its nomination for the next top US general in Europe and said the US military officer would also assume the traditional role of Supreme Allied Commander Europe.
Trump’s decision to nominate US Air Force Lieutenant General Alexus Grynkewich to both roles, which was first reported by Reuters, will relieve European Nato allies and even some of Trump’s fellow Republicans amid concerns about a retrenchment in American military leadership of Nato.
Reuters noted that Grynkewich, who is now the director for operations at the U.S. military’s Joint Staff, would succeed Army General Christopher Cavoli, who has been in the role since shortly after Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, helping oversee billions of dollars in U.S. security assistance to Kyiv.
Hungary’s crackdown on LGBTQ+ content violates human rights, says EU’s top court
As we wait for further updates from Nato meetings in Brussels and from Merz’s visit to Washington DC, let me bring you this story from our Brussels correspondent Jennifer Rankin.
A Hungarian law banning content about LGBTQ+ people from schools and primetime TV has been found to violate basic human rights and freedom of expression by a senior legal scholar at the European court of justice.
The non-binding opinion from the court’s advocate general, Tamara Ćapeta, issued on Thursday, represents a comprehensive demolition of the arguments made by the Hungarian government defending its so-called child protection law, passed in 2021.
The legislation, which has been likened to Russia’s infamous “gay propaganda law”, means that gay and transgender people or themes cannot feature in school educational material or any TV show, film or advert shown before 10pm.
In a resounding opinion, Ćapeta wrote that the law was not based on any scientific proof but a value judgment or – backing a position presented by the European parliament to the court – “a prejudice that homosexual and non-cisgender [transgender] life is not of equal value or status as heterosexual and cisgender life”.
Far from protecting children from harm, she concluded, the legislation “expands such harm”.
In her 69-page opinion, she wrote: “The stigmatising effects of the Hungarian legislation, which creates a climate of hostility towards LGBTI persons, may affect the feelings of identity, self-esteem and self-confidence of LGBTI persons.
“Minors who belong to the LGBTI community are especially affected, as the removal of information about LGBTI lives from the public sphere prevents them from realising that their life is not abnormal.
“It also affects their acceptance by their peers, in school or other environments and thus affects their right to a ‘private social life’ as well. Therefore, rather than protecting minors from harm, the contested legislation expands such harm.”
She concluded that Hungary had violated fundamental rights of human dignity, respect for family life and non-discrimination under the EU treaty and charter of fundamental rights.
Full story:
Nato defence ministers gathering in Brussels approved a new hybrid strategy for the alliance, two European diplomats told Reuters.
We will bring you more when we have it.
Meanwhile in Brussels, the Nato meetings are continuing – first, with an informal Nato-Ukraine working lunch which should be wrapping up soon, followed by the meeting of the Nuclear Planning Group.
We will hear from Nato secretary general Rutte again around 5pm CEST (4pm BST).
I can now bring you a longer quote from UK prime minister Keir Starmer’s spokesperson on the upcoming meeting with Nato’s secretary general Mark Rutte on Monday (12:58), via our UK politics blog.
Speaking at the morning lobby briefing, the spokesperson said:
The two leaders have spoken a number of times and this will be the second time that Mr Rutte has visited the prime minister at Downing Street.
You can expect the prime minister to raise how we can ensure all allies meet their stated pledges in support of our collective defence, to keep people safe.
It is worth recognising the UK’s track record on spending and indeed our contribution to Nato, both in terms of our spending and our capabilities.
Updated
Brazil, India, China should put pressure on Russia to end Ukraine war, Macron says
Meanwhile in Paris, French president Emmanuel Macron said that Brazil, India and China should put pressure on Russia to end the war in Ukraine.
He made his comments during a joint press conference with Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who is on a state visit in France.
In his comments, reported by AFP, Lula urged Macron “finalise” an EU trade deal with four South American countries, which Paris has so far rejected.
“Open your heart a little to this opportunity to finalise this agreement with our dear Mercosur. This agreement would be the strongest response our regions could offer in the face of the uncertainty caused by the return of unilateralism and tariff protectionism,” Lula said during a state visit to Paris, referring to sweeping tariffs imposed or threatened by US President Donald Trump.
Updated
Hegseth was reluctant to name any countries that are unwilling to ramp their defence spending up to 5%, but it’s safe to think of Spain as one of them.
Spain stands by its defence spending target of 2% of GDP, the country’s defence minister Margarita Robles said, as pressure grows from Nato leadership and the United States for the Mediterranean country to increase it.
“We think that this 2% is enough to meet the responsibilities we have committed to,” Robles said, as reported by Reuters.
Spain will not veto a Nato decision to raise the defence spending target during a summit to be held later this month in The Hague, she said.
“What is important is that each country is able to meet the objectives it has set itself,” she added.
Updated
UK's Starmer to meet Nato's Rutte on Monday to talk defence spending
On that UK spending commitment (12:19)…
The UK prime minister Keir Starmer’s spokesperson has just said that Starmer will meet with Nato secretary general Mark Rutte on Monday “to discuss how members can increase defence spending,” Reuters reported.
Hegseth’s briefing ends with a short question on whether the fact that he skipped meetings on Ukraine should be seen as “a message that the US no longer supports Ukraine.”
He rejects that and says that US permanent Nato representive Matthew Whitaker was present instead and made a contribution.
“From the beginning of this administration, we worked with our British and German counterparts for them to take the lead of that contact group, which they’ve done, And I appreciate that.”
And that’s it.
'Only responsible' for US to assess its force posture, Hegseth says
Asked about US troops in Europe, Hegseth gives a vague response about the need to keep it under review in real time to respond to threats.
He says:
Well, it would only be responsible for the United States to continually assess our force posture, which is precisely, precisely what we’ve done.
We have an interim defence strategy that clearly specifies we’re going to defend our southern border and close it, unlike the previous administration that let 21 million people invade our country, and we’re going to get 100% operational control of that. We’re going to make sure we shift properly to the Indo Pacific and reestablish deterrence there, and then we’re going to increase burden sharing across the world.
America can’t be everywhere all the time, nor should we be.
And so there are reasons why we have troops in certain places, and we respect and understand that it was also prudent that we review that force posture in real time alongside our allies and partners to make sure it’s right size.
So I don’t want to get ahead of the President’s decision on that, but we’re reviewing everything, and I think our allies, commitment and willingness to spend more means a lot.
He adds:
But this alliance, we believe, in a matter of weeks, will be committing to 5% - 3.5% in hard military and 1.5% in infrastructure and defence related activities.
That combination constitutes a real commitment.
Updated
Nato was 'sleepwalking to irrelevance' but Trump re-energised it with demands to spend more, Hegseth says
He’s back!
Hegseth rejects suggestion the US could withdraw from Nato if European allies don’t step up, but pointedly praises Trump for reinvigorating the alliance by his demands that they step up.
He says:
It was an alliance that was sleepwalking to irrelevance, and President Trump, in his first term, said, you need to step up and spend more. And he has in this term done the same.
And what I saw in there were countries prepared to step up to push the limits of what they can do. That’s a good thing. That’s friends, helping friends.
UK 'will get there' on defence spending, Hegseth hopes
Asked specifically about the UK’s commitment, which appears to be below the 5% target, Hegseth says:
They’re going to get there. … But we think everybody’s going to get there. We really do. …
Well, I think it’s important they do. It’s important that the UK gets there.
And then he’s off for a family photo, but should be back to take more questions soon.
Hegseth continues:
We don’t need more flags, we need more fighting formations. We don’t need more conferences. We need more capabilities, hard power.
He goes on to say that with Trump “committed to spending a trillion dollars in our own defence budget,” it’s time for “our allies here in Europe and in Canada to step up even more, to step up and take the lead, to recognise the defence of the continent as a core mission.”
“Now it’s time for Europe to step up.”
Hegseth hails 'historic' discussion and 'near consensus' on 5% targets at Nato meeting
US defence secretary Pete Hegseth is clearly pleased with the outcome of this morning’s talks as he hails “the historic nature” of the discussions on capability, spending targets, saying there is “near consensus” on a 5% defence spending commitment for Nato member states.
He says:
I think it is, it is worth taking a moment to note the historic nature of what just occurred in there, which is not an end state, there’s still more to go.
But considering 2% was the goal that President Trump set out in his first term, President Trump said other countries need to carry the burden, pay the fair share, and a lot of people thought that was impossible, it couldn’t happen, and here we are: countries in there are well exceeding 2% and we think very close, almost near consensus, on a 5% commitment for Nato.
There are a few countries that are not quite there yet. I won’t name any names. It’s amongst friends in that room. We’ll get them there.
But from France to Germany to the Baltics to the Nordic countries to Poland to Greece to Hungary, to so many more, the commitment is there 5% on defence spending.
When you consider the threats that we face, the urgency in the world, it’s critical.
Updated
US defence secretary Pete Hegseth is now briefing the media after this morning’s Nato defence meeting.
You can watch it below, and I will bring you all the key updates here.
Pope urged Putin to make moves towards peace in Ukraine, Vatican says
Pope Leo urged the Russian president Vladimir Putin to make moves towards ending the war in Ukraine during a phone call on Wednesday, the Vatican said.
“The pope made an appeal for Russia to make a gesture that favours peace, emphasising the importance of dialogue for achieving positive contacts between the parties and seeking solutions to the conflict,” the Vatican said.
The statement added that the discussion focused on “the humanitarian situation, the need to facilitate aid where necessary, ongoing efforts for the exchange of prisoners, and the value of the work carried out in this regard by Cardinal (Matteo) Zuppi.”
Zuppi is the Vatican’s peace envoy for Ukraine.
The phone call was the first between the pair since Leo was elected pontiff last month. It came a few days after Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s secretary of state, reiterated the Holy See’s availability to host peace talks.
The Kremlin said that Putin thanked the pope for offering to help settle the conflict, while telling him that Ukraine was intent on “escalating” the war.
Italy’s prime minister Giorgia Meloni has also tried to orchestrate Ukraine-Russia peace talks at the Vatican, although Russian officials have previously said it would not be a suitable location due to the two countries being largely Orthodox Christian.
Germany on tenterhooks for Merz’s first official meeting with Trump
The main event of the day – in late afternoon – will be German chancellor Friedrich Merz’s meeting with US president Donald Trump at the White House.
Our Berlin correspondent Kate Connolly says the event is putting political Berlin on tenterhooks like no other transatlantic encounter in living memory.
Discussions between the German chancellor and the US president will focus on Ukraine, the Middle East and trade policies.
How well or badly the talks go – during a small group meeting, followed by a lunch and then, perhaps most nailbitingly, a press conference in the Oval Office – may shape relations for decades to come, analysts say.
Having reportedly spoken by phone four times since Merz’s election win in February, swapped numbers and exchanged an undisclosed number of text messages, the two leaders are now on first-name terms – something that, culturally at least, doesn’t come easy to a German. German government advisers say it bodes well that they have dropped “Mr President” and “Chancellor” in favour of Donald and Friedrich.
But Merz knows the road to a normal friendship is thorny. The transatlantic relationship has been altered almost beyond recognition since Trump’s return to office, and the shock “sits very deep”, said Mariam Lau, a journalist and the author of a new in-depth portrayal of Merz.
Full analysis:
UK trade secretary Jonathan Reynolds has also called for reforms of the WTO including changes to the much-criticised dispute resolutions system which can also take years to settle disputes between trading nations.
“We do recognise that reforming and repositioning the WTO so that it can respond more effectively to the challenges of today is the only way to safeguard long term stability and growth tomorrow.
“Our eyes are fixed on greater flexibility in decision making, greater openness in the east of plurilaterals and building a fully functioning dispute settlement system,” he told the European Policy Centre security conference.
“Whilst the world has changed, it is changing, and it’s going to change more quickly in future, and that climate is uncertain and volatile,”.
Arguing stronger ties with the EU and other allies were now more vital than ever, he added: “the trees that survive the storms aren’t the tallest. They’re the ones whose roots are intertwined with their lives.
Updated
Back to Brussels, Nato and defence are not the only topics being discussed there today.
The EU’s trade commissioner Maroš Šefčovič has called for deep reform of World Trade Organization rules in the face of the continuing assault on the global rules based system by Donald Trump.
Just days after a series of meetings with the US, India, Australia and others, he said many developed economies were agreed that it was long overdue.
While the US trashes the rules based system, the rest of the world is pushing ahead with strengthening, but changing trade rules, was his message.
“Just in the past two days, during the OECD trade ministerial [summit] the message was clear and unequivocal – deep reform of the World Trade Organisation is long overdue and urgently needed to match today’s realities,” he said.
Speaking at the European Police Centre conference in Brussels, he said the EU was “doubling down on the rules based approach to trade” rather than joining Trump’s attack on decades old trading systems.
While the US seeks to coerce trading partners into deals, the EU was keeping an orderly position with the aim to improving prosperity with “We are here to improve the system, not to bend it to the point of breaking and certainly not to abandon it.”
He added the EU’s approach was this: “We negotiate. We do not isolate. We do not leave the table… trade agreements are more than transactions. They are upgrades that empower our partners, helping them grow with us and creating a cycle of shared prosperity.”
He also warned that “China’s impressive rise must not come at the expense of the European economy” and that the EU was “rebalancing this relationship and establishing a level playing field in trade and investment, with symmetrical market opening.”
Looking elsewhere, Italy is preparing for a national referendum this weekend on reducing the residence requirement for non-EU nationals seeking Italian citizenship from 10 years to 5 years, with many senior government figures trying to defeat the proposal by… encouraging people not to take part in the vote at all.
Jamie McKay, a writer and translator based in Florence, has this take on the vote in our opinion section.
The fact that this referendum is happening at all is therefore something of a miracle. For the past three decades, the Italian state has been tightening up its citizenship rules so that fewer and fewer are eligible. And the political wind is still blowing very much in that direction.
Defence ministers to agree on capability targets for Nato leaders' meeting, Rutte says
Opening the meeting this morning, Nato’s Mark Rutte noted it was “the last step on our road” to the Nato leaders’ summit in The Hague later this month.
He said the defence ministers will “agree an ambitious new set of capability targets to keep our 1 billion people safe, by keeping our deterrence and defence strong.”
“To make Nato a stronger, a fairer and a more lethal alliance, we need to spend more to reach these targets. But for today, the main focus is on the targets, and then, of course, the summit will decide on the spending,” he said.
Rutte also said the focus will be on ramping up production, as “we also have to produce more to defend ourselves, much more.”
“So today we will also prepare the new defence investment plan, which then, of course, Nato leaders will agree in the Summit in The Hague.”
“There is no security without strong defence, and there will be no lasting security without a secure Ukraine.”
And with that, the doors close, and the meeting gets under way.
Elsewhere, there’s plenty for us to follow today, including:
new EU plans on digital,
French president Emmanuel Macron welcoming Brazilian president Lula to Paris,
further coalition talks in Poland in the aftermath of the presidential election on Sunday,
and the main event later today, the German chancellor Friedrich Merz’s visit to the White House.
It’s Thursday, 5 June 2025, it’s Jakub Krupa here taking over from Martin Belam, and this is Europe Live.
Good morning.
Both Sweden and Latvia back raising defence spending to 5% of GDP among the nations in the Nato alliance.
Swedish defence minister Pål Jonson said his country, which joined the alliance in 2024 after a nearly two-year wait due to objections from Turkey and Hungary, would like to see Nato budgets at 5% of GDP by 2030.
Latvian defence minister Andris Sprūds, Reuters reports, said the 5% figure was crucial if the alliance was to meet its new targets.
Germany will need about 50,000 to 60,000 additional active troops under the new Nato targets, defence minister Boris Pistorius said in Brussels this morning.
Reuters reports that Pistorius said that Nato should make clear in its summit declaration that Russia is its greatest threat.
Updated
Ukraine’s defence minister said on Thursday that his country will receive up to €1.3bn for domestic weapons production in 2025 from allies after a conversation with his Danish counterpart.
The first tranche of €428m come from Denmark, Sweden, Canada, Norway and Iceland, Reuters reports Rustem Umerov said on the Telegram messaging app.
Secretary-general Rutte: Nato allies to agree on capability targets and considerable extra investment
Nato secretary-general Mark Rutte said on Thursday morning that he expects allies to agree on what he called historic new capability targets at the defence ministers’ meeting in Brussels.
Reuters reports he said that the goal was to better balance defence contributions between Europe, Canada, and the US.
Rutte also said there is a need to boost spending on air defences, long-range missiles, land forces, and command and control systems. He said it would be a considerable extra investment.
Hegseth: Nato defence spending commitment of 5% of GDP 'will happen'
A defence spending commitment of 5% of GDP across the Nato alliance will happen, US defence secretary Pete Hegseth told reporters in Brussels, ahead of the Nato defence ministers meeting.
Reuters reports that Hegseth said that to be an alliance, you had to be combat-ready.
“We’re here to continue the work that President Trump started, which is a commitment to 5% defence spending across this alliance, which we think will happen. It has to happen by the summit at The Hague later this month,” he said.
Welcome and opening summary …
Good morning and welcome to our rolling coverage of Europe, where today the main focus to begin with is the Nato defence ministers meeting in Brussels. Here are the headlines …
A defence spending commitment of 5% of GDP across the Nato alliance will happen, US defense secretary Pete Hegseth has told reporters in Brussels
Nato’s secretary general Mark Rutte has said that new investment will equalise what the US, European nations and Canada have committed to spending. He said that Nato needed to invest in its capabilities to protect itself from being attacked
Germany’s new conservative leader, Friedrich Merz, is due in Washington on Thursday for his first official meeting with Donald Trump
