With the conflict in its fifth week and Trump under pressure for an off-ramp amid rising gasoline prices, ‌the president scheduled a 9 p.m. EDT (0100 GMT) speech to discuss the way forward. His address will end a day that began with Trump making a historic visit to the Supreme Court.

Trump, in a phone interview with Reuters, said one element of his speech would be to express his disgust with NATO for what he considers the alliance’s lack of support for U.S. objectives in Iran.

A transatlantic rift in Trump’s second term deepened after European allies rebuffed ​his request to help maintain safe passage for oil traffic through the Strait of Hormuz.

He said he was “absolutely” considering withdrawing the United States from NATO, a treaty organization ratified by ​the U.S. Senate in 1949. Trump has flirted with a withdrawal in the past and has successfully pressured NATO members to increase their defense ⁠spending.

“They haven’t been friends when we needed them,” Trump said. “We’ve never asked them for much … it’s a one-way street.”

Trump and his top officials have offered a variety of timelines for ending ​the war. He said on Tuesday that the U.S. could end its military campaign against Iran within two to three weeks.

In the Reuters interview, he declined to provide a timeline.

“I can’t tell you ​exactly … we’re going to be out pretty quickly,” he said, adding that once a U.S. exit is achieved, “we’ll come back to do spot hits” on Iranian targets as needed.

‘WE GOT REGIME CHANGE’

The war has spread across the Middle East, killing thousands of people and causing soaring energy prices that have fueled global inflation fears.

Two-thirds of Americans believe that the U.S. should work to end its involvement in the Iran war quickly, even if that means ​not achieving the goals set out by the Trump administration, found a Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted from Friday to Sunday.

Trump said he hoped for a deal with Iran after the first wave of ​airstrikes killed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. A number of other senior Iranian figures have also been killed.

Mojtaba Khamenei has replaced his father as Iran’s supreme leader; the U.S. has said it believes he is wounded and ‌likely disfigured. ⁠The country’s president and foreign minister remain the same as before the conflict.

Trump said Iran’s leadership was now “totally different people.”

“I didn’t need regime change, but we got it because of the casualties of war. We got it. So we have regime change and the big thing we have is they’re not going to have a nuclear weapon,” said Trump, adding: “Nor do they want one.”

The White House has said behind-the-scenes negotiations are ongoing with Iran, a point that Tehran denies. A source briefed on the matter said Vice President JD Vance was talking to intermediaries from Pakistan about the conflict ​as recently as Tuesday.

At Trump’s direction, Vance signaled ​privately that Trump was open to a ⁠ceasefire as long as certain U.S. demands were met, the source told Reuters on Wednesday.

“We have had full regime change,” Trump said. “I’m dealing with a very good chance that we’ll make a deal because they don’t want to be blasted anymore.”

NUCLEAR WEAPONS

Trump has said a primary aim of launching ​the war was to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon.

Almost half of Iran’s uranium enriched to up to 60% purity, a short ​step from weapons-grade, was ⁠stored in a tunnel complex at Isfahan and is probably still there, the U.N. nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi said earlier this month.

The tunnel complex is the only target that appears not to have been badly damaged in attacks last June by Israel and the U.S. on Iran’s nuclear facilities.

Trump said the objective of preventing a nuclear weapon has been achieved, however.

Of the enriched uranium, Trump said: “That’s so far ⁠underground, I ​don’t care about that.”

“We’ll always be watching it by satellite,” he added.

He said Iran was “incapable” of developing a weapon ​now.

Iran has long denied wanting to develop a nuclear weapon and says its nuclear program is peaceful.

The International Atomic Energy Agency estimates that when Israel launched its first attacks in June, Iran had 440.9 kg of 60% uranium. If enriched ​further, that would provide the explosive needed for 10 nuclear weapons, according to an IAEA yardstick.

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Starmer hosted a security summit in London on March 2 with other European and world leaders as Britain, France, and Ukraine work on a cease-fire plan to present to the United States as an effort to end the Russia–Ukraine war.

Starmer emphasized that despite the breakdown in talks at the White House on Feb. 28, the United States remains an important ally to Britain.

“The U.S. has been a reliable ally to the U.K. for many, many decades and continues to be,” Starmer said. “There are no two countries as closely aligned as our two countries.”

Starmer said he is working on a Ukraine peace plan intended to receive U.S. backing and warned that Europe must do the heavy work of defending itself.

Starmer’s March 2 summit of leaders stands in contrast to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s meeting in the White House on Feb. 28, during which U.S. President Donald Trump scolded him for not being ready for peace and not being grateful for America’s support in his nation’s defense against Russia’s three-year-long invasion.

Starmer said he’s working on restoring discussions of peace and is using the breakdown on Feb. 28 as an opportunity to reengage with Trump, Zelenskyy, and French President Emmanuel Macron rather than “ramp up the rhetoric.”

“We’ve now agreed that the United Kingdom, along with France and possibly one or two others, will work with Ukraine on a plan to stop the fighting, and then we’ll discuss that plan with the United States,” Starmer told the BBC, adding that he and Macron have both spoken to Trump since the latter’s meeting with Zelenskyy.

At the summit, European leaders discussed shoring up the continent’s defenses in defending Ukraine, including discussions to create a European military force to send to the war-torn country to cap a cease-fire. Starmer suggested the military force would include a “coalition of the willing.”

While he does not trust Russian President Vladimir Putin, Starmer said he trusts Trump.

“Do I believe Donald Trump when he says he wants lasting peace? The answer to that is yes,” he said.

Starmer added that “intense discussions” to obtain a security guarantee from the United States are one of the three components of lasting peace.

“If there is to be a deal, if there is to be a stopping of the fighting, then that agreement has to be defended, because the worst of all outcomes is that there is a temporary pause, and then Putin comes again,” Starmer said. “That has happened in the past. I think it is a real risk, and that is why we must ensure that if there’s a deal, it is a lasting deal, not a temporary pause.”

The summit, held at Lancaster House—a 200-year-old mansion near Buckingham Palace—will also include leaders from France, Germany, Denmark, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Spain, Canada, Finland, Sweden, the Czech Republic, and Romania.

Other attendees include the Turkish foreign minister, the NATO secretary-general, and the presidents of the European Commission and European Council.

Zelenskyy received support from European leaders after the contentious Feb. 28 meeting at the White House in which a rare earths deal was abandoned and Trump told Zelenskyy to come back when he was ready for peace.

After the Ukrainian president arrived in Britain on March 1, Starmer embraced him.

“As you heard from the cheers on the street outside, you have full backing across the United Kingdom,” Starmer said. “We stand with you, with Ukraine, for as long as it may take.”

Starmer also pledged to boost military spending to 2.5 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) by 2027. Other European nations may follow suit.

On March 1, Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala said European countries must increase military spending to at least 3 percent of GDP as the continent faces a historic test in defending itself.

“If we don’t increase our effort fast enough and let the aggressor dictate its conditions, we won’t end up well,” he said.

In calling for unity among his European neighbors, Macron embraced more defense spending after saying it was legitimate for the United States to shift its military focus to China and Asia.

“We should have woken up earlier,” Macron said. “I’ve been saying for years that we need a more sovereign, more united, more independent Europe.”

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Biden’s shift in policy added an uncertain, new factor to the conflict on the eve of the 1,000-day milestone since Russia began its full-scale invasion in 2022.

It also came as a Russian ballistic missile with cluster munitions struck a residential area of Sumy in northern Ukraine, killing 11 people and injuring 84 others. Another missile barrage sparked apartment fires in the southern port of Odesa, killing at least 10 people and injuring 43, Ukraine’s Interior Ministry said.

Washington is easing limits on what Ukraine can strike with its American-made Army Tactical Missile System, or ATACMs, U.S. officials told The Associated Press on Sunday, after months of ruling out such a move over fears of escalating the conflict and bringing about a direct confrontation between Russia and NATO.

The Kremlin was swift in its condemnation.

“It is obvious that the outgoing administration in Washington intends to take steps, and they have been talking about this, to continue adding fuel to the fire and provoking further escalation of tensions around this conflict,” spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

The scope of the new firing guidelines isn’t clear. But the change came after the U.S., South Korea and NATO said North Korean troops are in Russia and apparently are being deployed to help Moscow drive Ukrainian troops from Russia’s Kursk border region.

Biden’s decision almost entirely was triggered by North Korea’s entry into the fight, according to a U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations, and was made just before he left for the annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Peru.

Russia also is slowly pushing Ukraine’s outnumbered army backward in the eastern Donetsk region. It has also conducted a devastating aerial campaign against civilian areas in Ukraine.

Peskov referred journalists to a statement from President Vladimir Putin in September in which he said allowing Ukraine to target Russia would significantly raise the stakes.

It would change “the very nature of the conflict dramatically,” Putin said at the time. “This will mean that NATO countries — the United States and European countries — are at war with Russia.”

Peskov claimed that Western countries supplying longer-range weapons also provide targeting services to Kyiv. “This fundamentally changes the modality of their involvement in the conflict,” he said.

Putin warned in June that Moscow could provide longer-range weapons to others to strike Western targets if NATO allowed Ukraine to use its allies’ arms to attack Russian territory. After signing a treaty with North Korea, Putin issued an explicit threat to provide weapons to Pyongyang, noting Moscow could mirror Western arguments that it’s up to Ukraine to decide how to use them.

“The Westerners supply weapons to Ukraine and say: ‘We do not control anything here anymore and it does not matter how they are used,’” Putin has said. “Well, we can also say: ‘We supplied something to someone — and then we do not control anything.’ And let them think about it.”

Putin has also reaffirmed Moscow’s readiness to use nuclear weapons if it sees a threat to its sovereignty.

Biden’s move will “mean the direct involvement of the United States and its satellites in military action against Russia, as well as a radical change in the essence and nature of the conflict,” Russia’s Foreign Ministry said.

President-elect Donald Trump, who takes office Jan. 20, has raised uncertainty about whether his administration would continue military support to Ukraine. He has also vowed to end the war quickly.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy gave a muted response Sunday to the approval that he and his government have been requesting for over a year, adding, “The missiles will speak for themselves.”

“The longer Ukraine can strike, the shorter the war will be,” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said Monday ahead of a U.N. Security Council meeting marking the 1,000th-day milestone.

Asked whether the United Kingdom would follow the United States in authorizing use of its longer-range missiles, U.K. Foreign Secretary David Lammy, who chaired the meeting, declined to comment. He said doing so would risk “operational security and can only play into the hands of Putin.”

Consequences of the new policy are uncertain. ATACMS, which have a range of about 300 kilometers (190 miles), can reach far behind the about 1,000-kilometer (600-mile) front line in Ukraine, but they have relatively short range compared with other types of ballistic and cruise missiles.

The policy change came “too late to have a major strategic effect,” said Patrick Bury, a senior associate professor in security at the University of Bath in the United Kingdom.

“The ultimate kind of impact it will have is to probably slow down the tempo of the Russian offensives which are now happening,” he said, adding that Ukraine could strike targets in Kursk or logistics hubs or command headquarters.

Jennifer Kavanagh, director of military analysis at Defense Priorities, agreed the U.S. move would not alter the war’s course, noting Ukraine “would need large stockpiles of ATACMS, which it doesn’t have and won’t receive because the United States’ own supplies are limited.”

On a political level, the move “is a boost to the Ukrainians and it gives them a window of opportunity to try and show that they are still viable and worth supporting” as Trump prepares to take office, said Matthew Savill, director of Military Sciences at the Royal United Services Institute in London.

The cue for the policy change was the arrival in Russia of North Korean troops, according to Glib Voloskyi, an analyst at the CBA Initiatives Center, a Kyiv-based think tank.

“This is a signal the Biden administration is sending to North Korea and Russia, indicating that the decision to involve North Korean units has crossed a red line,” he said.

Russian lawmakers and state media bashed the West for what they called an escalatory step, threatening a harsh response.

“Biden, apparently, decided to end his presidential term and go down in history as ‘Bloody Joe,’” lawmaker Leonid Slutsky told Russian news agency RIA Novosti.

Vladimir Dzhabarov, deputy head of the foreign affairs committee in the upper house of parliament, called it “a very big step toward the start of World War III” and an attempt to “reduce the degree of freedom for Trump.”

Russian newspapers offered similar predictions of doom. “The madmen who are drawing NATO into a direct conflict with our country may soon be in great pain,” Rossiyskaya Gazeta said.

Some NATO allies welcomed the move.

President Andrzej Duda of Poland, which borders Ukraine, praised the decision as a “very important, maybe even a breakthrough moment“ in the war.

“In the recent days, we have seen the decisive intensification of Russian attacks on Ukraine, above all, those missile attacks where civilian objects are attacked, where people are killed, ordinary Ukrainians,” Duda said.

Easing restrictions on Ukraine was “a good thing,” said Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna of Russian neighbor Estonia.

“We have been saying that from the beginning — that no restrictions must be put on the military support,” he told senior European Union diplomats in Brussels. “And we need to understand that situation is more serious (than) it was even maybe like a couple of months ago.”

But Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico, known for his pro-Russian views, described Biden’s decision as “an unprecedented escalation” that would prolong the war.

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The sternly worded final communiqué, approved by the 32 NATO members at their summit in Washington, makes clear that China is becoming a focus of the military alliance. The European and North American members and their partners in the Indo-Pacific increasingly see shared security concerns coming from Russia and its Asian supporters, especially China.

Beijing insists that it does not provide military aid to Russia but has maintained strong trade ties with its northern neighbor throughout the conflict. It also accuses NATO of overreaching and inciting confrontation in the Indo-Pacific region.

In the communiqué, NATO member countries said China has become a war enabler through its “no-limits partnership” with Russia and its large-scale support for Russia’s defense industrial base.

“This increases the threat Russia poses to its neighbors and to Euro-Atlantic security. We call on the PRC, as a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council with a particular responsibility to uphold the purposes and principles of the U.N. Charter, to cease all material and political support to Russia’s war effort,” read the communiqué, which referred to China by the abbreviation of its official name, the People’s Republic of China.

“The PRC cannot enable the largest war in Europe in recent history without this negatively impacting its interests and reputation,” the document says.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said China provides equipment, microelectronics and tools that are “enabling Russia to build the missiles, to build the bombs, to build the aircraft, to build the weapons they use to attack Ukraine.”

He said it was the first time all NATO allies have stated this so clearly in an agreed document.

The Chinese embassy in Washington on Wednesday said China is neither a creator of nor a party to the Ukraine crisis. “China does not provide weapons to the parties to the conflict and strictly controls the export of dual-use articles, which is widely applauded by the international community,” said Liu Pengyu, the embassy spokesman.

He said China’s normal trade with Russia is “done aboveboard” and “beyond reproach.”

Danny Russel, a former assistant secretary of state for Asia, called the new wording by NATO “an extraordinary step,” particularly because it was coupled with the warning that Beijing continues to pose “systemic challenges” to European interests and security.

“It is a mark of how badly Beijing’s attempt to straddle Russia and Western Europe has failed and how hollow its claim of neutrality rings,” said Russel, who is vice president for international security and diplomacy at the Asia Society Policy Institute. “China’s attempts at divide-and-conquer have instead produced remarkable solidarity between key nations of the Euro-Atlantic and the Asia-Pacific regions.”

Max Bergmann, director of the Europe, Russia, and Eurasia Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said the statement is “highly significant” because it signals to China that Europe, just like the U.S., also condemns support to Russia.

“The U.S. believes that Europe has influence in Beijing, and that while China will not pay any attention to U.S. condemnation, they will pay attention to European condemnation because just because Europe trades with China, China also trades with Europe,” Bergmann said.

In this year’s final declaration, NATO member countries reiterated their concerns that China poses “systemic challenges” to Euro-Atlantic security. It was first raised in 2021.

The alliance said China has been behind sustained, malicious cyber and hybrid activities, including disinformation and expressed concerns over China’s space capabilities and activities. It also raised alarms that China is rapidly expanding and diversifying its nuclear arsenal with more warheads and a larger number of sophisticated delivery systems.

Liu, the Chinese embassy spokesman, said China handles such issues “in a responsible manner with transparent policies.”

“Hyping up the so-called ‘China threat’ is completely futile,” Liu said, adding Beijing firmly opposes NATO’s use of regional hotspot issues to smear China and incite a new Cold War.

In Washington, where leaders of NATO nations are convening this week to mark the coalition’s 75th anniversary, President Joe Biden said the alliance must not fall behind Russia, which is ramping up weapon production with the help of China, North Korea and Iran.

Australia, New Zealand, Japan and South Korea have sent their leaders or deputies to the NATO summit in Washington this week. They are partners, not members, of the alliance.

In the final declaration, NATO members affirmed the importance of the Indo-Pacific partners to the alliance and said they were “strengthening dialogue to tackle cross-regional challenges.”

NATO and the Indo-Pacific partners plan to launch four projects to support Ukraine, bolster cooperation on cyber defense, counter disinformation and work on artificial intelligence. The NATO members said these projects would “enhance our ability to work together on shared security interests.”

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His comments indicate that if Biden gives into calls to step aside, the California governor will not challenge Harris, a front-runner in conversations about who should replace the president on the November ballot, if she seeks the nomination.

“Of course,” Newsom said when asked whether he stood by comments he made last year about not running against Harris. “Yes.”

Newsom’s vow would avoid a potentially ugly political battle for the party and its donors. Newsom and Harris rose up in Bay Area politics to become the state’s two most prominent elected officials. As vice president and Biden’s 2020 running mate, Harris would be the presumed Democratic front-runner to lead the ticket if called upon.

Newsom reaffirmed his stance during a news conference about California’s wildfire response at Sacramento McClellan Airport after returning from a swing-state tour on behalf of the Biden campaign.

Newsom campaigned for Biden in New Hampshire and Michigan as part of his effort to shore up support for the president after his poor debate performance against former President Trump in Atlanta in late June. The governor, who attended the debate as a surrogate for Biden, has attempted to swat down concerns about the president’s mental capacity and attested to the president’s abilities based on their personal interactions.

He’s continued to back Biden even as other Democrats question his ability to run.

On Wednesday, Newsom said he hadn’t read the full breadth of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s comments about Biden on MSNBC that morning.

“It’s up to the president to decide if he is going to run,” Rep. Pelosi (D-San Francisco) said. “We’re all encouraging him to make that decision because time is running short.”

Newsom said he had also not read an opinion piece written by actor George Clooney calling for a Democrat to replace Biden.

Biden repeatedly has said he intends to remain in the race and even challenged Democrats who think they can beat him to step up.

“I think I’ve had 100 media outlets asking the same question, and I think that I’ve amply answered my support for the president and the support I saw on the ground was demonstrable,” Newsom said Wednesday.

He referenced Biden’s support for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and compared the president with Trump, who Newsom said “didn’t even know what NATO was.”

In the past, he’s said the vice president would be naturally lined up to run if Biden ended his campaign. In New Hampshire, Newsom said he thought Harris could beat Trump.

“I have no doubt about that,” Newsom told reporters. “If it comes to that, but I don’t expect it’s going to come to that.”

Staff writers Noah Bierman and Seema Mehta contributed to this report.

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WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden on Tuesday said Donald Trump’s comments calling into question the U.S. commitment to defend its NATO allies from attack were “dangerous” and “un-American,” seizing on the former president’s comments that sowed fresh fears among U.S. partners about its dependability on the global stage.

Trump, the front-runner in the U.S. for the Republican Party’s nomination this year, said Saturday that he once warned that he would allow Russia to do whatever it wants to NATO member nations that are “delinquent” in devoting 2% of their gross domestic product to defense. It was the latest instance in which the former president seemed to side with an authoritarian state over America’s democratic allies.

Speaking from the White House as he encouraged the House to take up a Senate-passed aid bill to fund Ukraine’s efforts to hold off a two-year Russian invasion, Biden said Trump’s comments about the mutual defense pact were “dangerous and shocking.”

“The whole world heard it and the worst thing is he means it,” Biden added.

Biden said that “when America gives its word, it means something,” and called Trump’s comments sowing doubt about its commitments ”un-American.”

Biden said of Trump: “He doesn’t understand that the sacred commitment that we’ve given works for us as well.”

NATO’s Article 5 mutual defense clause states that an armed attack against one or more of its members shall be considered an attack against all members. But Trump has often depicted NATO allies as leeches on the U.S. military and openly questioned the value of the military alliance that has defined American foreign policy for more than 70 years.

Since the full scale Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Biden has ushered Finland into the alliance and is clearing the way for Sweden to do the same. While Ukraine is not a member of NATO, the alliance has served as a key contributor of the U.S.-organized effort to support Kyiv’s military defenses in the nearly two year old conflict.

NATO allies agreed in 2014, after Russia annexed Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula, to halt the spending cuts they had made after the Cold War and move toward spending 2% of their GDP on defense by 2024. The spending target is not a requirement for NATO members.

NATO’s secretary-general, Jens Stoltenberg, said in a statement Sunday that “any suggestion that allies will not defend each other undermines all of our security, including that of the U.S., and puts American and European soldiers at increased risk.” The defense minister in Poland, which has been under Russian control more often than not since the end of the 18th century, said “no election campaign is an excuse for playing with the security of the alliance.”

“President Trump got our allies to increase their NATO spending by demanding they pay up, but Joe Biden went back to letting them take advantage of the American taxpayer,” said Jason Miller, a Trump senior adviser, in response to Biden’s comments. “When you don’t pay your defense spending you can’t be surprised that you get more war.”

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WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Donald Trump, the front-runner in the U.S. for the Republican Party’s nomination this year, says he once warned that he would allow Russia to do whatever it wants to NATO member nations that are “delinquent” in devoting 2% of their gross domestic product to defense.

Trump’s comment on Saturday represented the latest instance in which the former president seemed to side with an authoritarian state over America’s democratic allies. It also adds to evidence that the 77-year-old either does not understand how NATO works or is distorting the truth for political gain.

WHAT DID TRUMP SAY?

Speaking at a rally in Conway, South Carolina, Trump recalled how as president he told an unidentified NATO member that he would withhold U.S. help and “encourage” Russia to do as it wishes with allies that do not contribute enough to military spending.

“‘You didn’t pay? You’re delinquent?’” Trump recounted saying. “‘No, I would not protect you. In fact, I would encourage them to do whatever the hell they want. You gotta pay. You gotta pay your bills.’”

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg shot back with an unusually strong statement saying that Trump was threatening the security of the entire trans-Atlantic alliance.

“Any suggestion that allies will not defend each other undermines all of our security, including that of the U.S., and puts American and European soldiers at increased risk,” Stoltenberg said.

President Joe Biden, who is on track toward a rematch against Trump in November, also issued a statement criticizing Trump.

“Donald Trump’s admission that he intends to give Putin a green light for more war and violence, to continue his brutal assault against a free Ukraine, and to expand his aggression to the people of Poland and the Baltic States are appalling and dangerous,” Biden said.

WHAT DID TRUMP GET WRONG?

NATO members don’t pay to belong and don’t owe the organization anything other than contributions to a largely administrative fund. Trump clearly wasn’t referring to those administrative payments.

His frequent complaint during his presidency, and now, has been how much NATO countries put into their own military budgets.

U.S. presidents before him raised that concern. In fact, it was in 2014, during the Barack Obama administration, that NATO members agreed to move “toward” spending 2% of GDP on national defense by 2024. Stoltenberg also has said members needed to invest more in their militaries.

At their last summit, in Lithuania in July, NATO leaders adjusted that pledge by agreeing to spend at least 2% of GDP on their military budgets. No target date was set for meeting the goal.

The 2% is a benchmark that each member should spend on its own defense in order to be able to contribute to the joint defense of the alliance. However, the goal is voluntary, and there is no debt or “delinquency” involved.

The countries don’t pay the money to NATO but invest it in their own armed forces.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine almost two years ago has given them further impetus to beef up their armies.

WHAT IS NATO?

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization was founded after World War II in an attempt to stop the expansion of Soviet control in Europe as the eastern part of the continent was coming under the Kremlin’s firm grip.

The alliance’s first secretary-general, the British Gen. Hasting Ismay, said the goal was “to keep the Russians out, the Americans in, and the Germans down.” The often repeated comment highlights how a fear of Russia’s expansion has been part of the alliance’s DNA from the beginning.

The collapse of the Soviet Union led some to question whether NATO still had a purpose. Russia, for its part, has observed the military alliance’s eastward growth with anger. President Vladimir Putin for years has warned that Moscow views NATO’s expansion into what the country views as its historical sphere of influence as a threat.

Putin tried to justify his war against Ukraine in part by citing NATO’s enlargement, though Ukraine had no immediate prospects of joining the alliance when Russian troops entered the neighboring country in February 2022. However, NATO leaders have said that Ukraine will join the alliance at some point in the future.

NATO currently has 31 members. Finland became the newest member last year, breaking with decades of non-alignment after Russia invaded Ukraine. Sweden is hoping to join, too, but is still waiting for approval from Hungary, the only member that has not ratified the Scandinavian country’s bid.

WHAT ELSE HAS TRUMP SAID ON THE ISSUE?

Trump has a history of misrepresenting NATO or suggesting that the United States might not honor its commitment to allies. Former national security adviser John Bolton said in a memoir that Trump was close to pulling the U.S. out of NATO in 2018.

Trump spoke that year about NATO as if it were a business going bankrupt until he came along. “I went to NATO. And NATO was essentially going out of business ’cause people weren’t paying and it was going down, down, down,” he said.

He also bemoaned that Americans were “the schmucks that are paying for the whole thing.” U.S. defense spending, while well above 2%, has actually been decreasing for years.

While Trump’s hectoring of allies to spend more on defense during his presidency might have spurred some into doing so, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has been a greater catalyst in pushing them to make much larger investments.

WHEN HAS NATO COME TO AN ALLY’S DEFENSE?

On the ground, NATO has helped to keep peace in the Balkans and helped to provide security in Afghanistan after a U.S. led coalition invaded the country. The U.S. triggered NATO’s common defense clause, known as Article 5, for the first and only time in the alliance’s history after the Sept. 11, 2001 attack.

“Poland then sent an army brigade to Afghanistan for a decade and we did not send an invoice to Washington for it. Alliances also strengthen the United States,” Polish Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski said on Monday.

Sikorski said he if he had a chance to speak with Trump he would tell him that the North Atlantic alliance “is not a contract with a security company.” But he also said he prefers to remember Trump as a president who sent Javelins and American anti-tank missiles to Ukraine even before Putin’s attack on Ukraine.

Even during his presidency, Trump threatened not to come to the aid of allies who might be under attack if they had not paid their dues.

His presidency raised questions about whether the U.S. would remain committed to the West’s collective defense, fears returning in anticipation of a likely rematch between him and Biden.

A defense policy bill approved by the U.S. House of Representatives in December includes provisions that say the president must get the advice and consent of the Senate or an act of Congress before withdrawing the U.S. as a member of NATO.

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WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Poland is deploying thousands of troops to its border with Belarus, calling it a deterrent move as tensions between the two neighbors ratchet up. Those tensions between Poland — a NATO and European Union country — and Belarus, which is Russia’s ally in its war on Ukraine, have been building up in recent months on the border. Here is why:

ORIGINS OF THE TENSIONS

Poland has been backing the Belarusian opposition ever since the 2020 presidential elections, where pro-Russian Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko won a sixth term in a vote that Poland and the wider Western community saw as rigged.

In 2021, Belarus began organizing and pushing thousands of migrants from the Middle East and Africa across the border into Poland. The move is seen by Poland and the EU as planned with the Kremlin and intended to cause instability in Europe. Poland’s right-wing government, hostile to the idea of accepting migrants, built a $400,000 wall that substantially reduced the inflow.

After Russia’s Feb. 24, 2022, invasion of Ukraine, Poland condemned the attack and has been supporting Kyiv with military equipment, political backing, and humanitarian aid, including hosting more than 1.2 million refugees. Belarus is on Russia’s side in the conflict, and Poland is participating in international economic sanctions on both countries.

RECENT ACTIONS BY BELARUS AND RUSSIA

Belarusian state officials and pro-government activists have formed a group called the Patriotic Force Command, which Minsk uses as a political tool. In a recent address to the Polish nation the group alleged that Polish politicians are “igniting the fire of war with their actions and rhetoric” and are being “driven by the frenzy of chauvinism.”

Meanwhile, officials in Moscow have repeatedly voiced groundless allegations that Poland intends on annexing western regions of Ukraine. Moscow also says it has moved some of its short-range nuclear weapons into Belarus, close to the NATO eastern frontier.

Poland is also concerned over the presence in Belarus of thousands of Russian Wagner mercenaries who were recently said to have taken part in training near the border. Two Russian men were arrested last week in Poland accused of having spread the Wagner group’s ideology. More than half of Poles questioned recently by the IBRIS survey center said they considered the Russian mercenaries in Belarus as a threat.

Two Belarusian military helicopters flew at low altitude over the Polish village of Bialowieza, near the border, for a few minutes last week before returning to Belarus, an action that Poland said was a provocation.

WHY IS THE REGION SO STRATEGICALLY IMPORTANT?

Beside being NATO’s and the EU’s frontier, Poland’s eastern border includes a strategic spot, the so-called Suwalki Gap — 96 kilometers (60 miles) of border with Lithuania that links the three Baltic states, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, to the rest of the NATO alliance and the EU. The narrow gap also separates Belarus from Kaliningrad, a heavily militarized Russian exclave that has no land connection to Russia.

Military analysts in the West have long viewed the Suwalki Gap as a potential flashpoint in any confrontation between Russia and NATO. They worry that Russia might try to seize the gap and cut off the three Baltic states.

The area is heavily protected by Polish and U.S. troops on the Polish side and Canadian and German troops on the Lithuanian side.

POLAND IS BEEFING UP THE BORDER

Poland’s government says it will not be intimidated and is building up its defense and deterrence potential and moving troops and modern equipment east, to beef up the border with Belarus and with Kaliningrad.

“There is no doubt that the Belarus regime is cooperating with the Kremlin and that this action is aimed against Poland in order to destabilize our country,” Poland’s defense minister, Mariusz Blaszczak, said last week.

Poland increased its spending on defense to more than 2.5% of GDP last year and the amount is to rise again this year. It spent more than $16 billion on weapons, including Abrams tanks, Patriot missile systems, jet fighters, tanks and howitzers. Some of them will replace Soviet and Russian-made equipment offered to Ukraine.

POLAND’S ELECTION ADDS TO THE MILITARY DEFENSE DRIVE

Poland is to hold crucial parliamentary elections Oct. 15. The populist Law and Justice party, which has been in power since 2015, is intent on winning an unprecedented third term.

The party is tapping into the public’s security concerns and stressing its efforts to beef up defense, seeking to rally voters around its policies and discredit the opposition and its main leader, former prime minister Donald Tusk.

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VILNIUS, Lithuania (AP) — NATO leaders said Tuesday that they would allow Ukraine to join the alliance “when allies agree and conditions are met” — a pronouncement that came just hours after President Volodymyr Zelenskyy blasted the organization’s failure to set a timetable for his country as “absurd.”

Instead, alliance leaders decided to remove obstacles on Ukraine’s membership path so that it can join more quickly once the war with Russia is over.

“We reaffirmed Ukraine will become a member of NATO and agreed to remove the requirement for a membership action plan,” NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg told reporters, referring to a key step in the process that involves advice and assistance for countries seeking to join.

“This will change Ukraine’s membership path from a two-step path to a one-step path,” Stoltenberg said.

Although many NATO members have funneled arms and ammunition to Zelenskyy’s forces, there is no consensus among the 31 allies for admitting Ukraine into NATO’s ranks.

Zelenskyy pushed back sharply against the decision as he headed to the annual NATO summit in Vilnius.

“It’s unprecedented and absurd when a time frame is set neither for the invitation nor for Ukraine’s membership,” Zelenskyy tweeted. “While at the same time, vague wording about ‘conditions’ is added even for inviting Ukraine. It seems there is no readiness to invite Ukraine to NATO or to make it a member of the Alliance.”

NATO membership would afford Ukraine protection against a giant neighbor that annexed its Crimean Peninsula almost a decade ago and more recently seized vast swaths of land in the east and south. Joining NATO would also oblige Kyiv to reform its security institutions, improve governance and curb corruption — work that would also ease the country’s path into the European Union.

Asked about Zelenskyy’s concerns, Stoltenberg said the most important thing now is to ensure that his country wins the war, because “unless Ukraine prevails there is no membership to be discussed at all.”

The broadside from Zelenskyy could renew tensions at the summit shortly after it saw a burst of goodwill following an agreement by Turkey to advance Sweden’s bid to join NATO. Allies hope to resolve the seesawing negotiations and create a clear plan for the alliance and its support for Ukraine.

The Ukrainian president, who was to meet Wednesday with U.S. President Joe Biden and other NATO leaders, expressed deep frustration in an emotional speech in downtown Vilnius.

“Today I started my journey with faith in solutions, with faith in strong partners, with faith in NATO … in a NATO that does not hesitate, that does not waste time and does not look over their backs at any aggressor,” Zelenskyy said.

“I would like this faith to become confidence, confidence in the decisions that we deserve, all of us — every soldier, every citizen, every mother, every child,” he said. “Is that too much to ask?”

Sharp divisions have emerged within the alliance over Ukraine’s desire to join NATO, which was promised back in 2008 even though few steps were taken toward that goal.

In addition, the Baltic states — including Lithuania, which is hosting the summit — have pushed for a strong show of support and a clear pathway toward membership for Ukraine.

However, the United States and Germany urged caution. Biden said last week that Ukraine was not ready to join. Members of NATO, he told CNN, need to “meet all the qualifications, from democratization to a whole range of other issues,” a nod toward longstanding concerns about governance and corruption in Kyiv.

In addition, some fear that bringing Ukraine into NATO would serve more as a provocation to Russia than as a deterrence against aggression.

Concretely, NATO leaders decided to launch a series of multiyear programs to bring Ukraine’s Soviet-era military equipment and doctrines up to modern standards so the country can operate fully with the alliance.

On Wednesday, the leaders and Zelenskyy are set to launch a new, upgraded forum for their cooperation: a NATO-Ukraine Council, where all parties can convene crisis talks if their security is threatened.

To fast-track its future membership, the leaders agreed to do away with a membership action plan for Ukraine, a program often seen as mandatory for aspiring nations to undertake.

Known in NATO parlance as a MAP, the action plan involves a tailor-made package of advice, assistance and practical support for countries preparing to join NATO. Bosnia, for example, is currently taking part in one.

Pressed by reporters to say what kind of conditions are being placed on Ukraine joining, Stoltenberg said: “We want modern defense and security institutions.”

The dispute over Ukraine stands in contrast to a hard-fought agreement to advance Sweden’s membership. The deal was reached after days of intensive meetings, and it’s poised to expand the alliance’s strength in Northern Europe.

“Rumors of the death of NATO’s unity were greatly exaggerated,” White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters triumphantly on Tuesday.

According to a joint statement issued when the deal was announced, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will ask Turkey’s parliament to approve Sweden joining NATO.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, another holdout, is expected to take a similar step. Hungary’s foreign minister said Tuesday that his country’s ratification of Sweden’s NATO membership was now just a “technical matter.” Erdogan has not yet commented publicly.

The outcome is a victory as well for Biden, who has touted NATO’s expansion as an example of how Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has backfired on Moscow.

Finland has already become the 31st member of the alliance, and Sweden is on deck to become the 32nd. Both Nordic countries were historically nonaligned until the war increased fears of Russian aggression.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that NATO’s expansion is “one of the reasons that led to the current situation.”

“It looks like the Europeans don’t understand their mistake,” Peskov said. He warned against putting Ukraine on a fast track for NATO membership.

“Potentially it’s very dangerous for the European security. It carries very big risks,” Peskov said.

Erdogan met with Biden on Tuesday evening but remained mum on the deal to advance Sweden’s membership in NATO.

Although Biden made a reference to “the agreement you reached yesterday,” Erdogan said nothing about it. It was a conspicuous omission from Erdogan, who has not commented on the issue publicly during the summit.

However, Erdogan appeared eager to develop his relationship with Biden. He said previous meetings were “mere warm-ups, but now we are initiating a new process.”

The Turkish president has been seeking advanced American fighter jets and a path toward membership in the European Union. The White House has expressed support for both, but publicly insisted that the issues were not related to Sweden’s membership in NATO.

The Biden administration has backed Turkey’s desire to buy 40 new F-16s as well as modernization kits from the U.S.

Biden is on a five-day trip to Europe, with the NATO summit as its centerpiece.

After the summit ends Wednesday, he will travel to Helsinki. On Thursday, he will celebrate Finland’s recent entry into NATO and meet with Nordic leaders.

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VILNIUS, Lithuania (AP) — NATO’s summit will begin Tuesday with fresh momentum after Turkey withdrew its objections to Sweden joining the alliance, a step toward the unity that Western leaders have been eager to demonstrate in the face of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The decision by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is a significant move toward Sweden’s membership and it will alleviate tension in Vilnius, Lithuania’s capital.

“This is a historic day,” NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said late Monday as he announced the agreement following days of intensive meetings.

As part of the deal, Erdogan said he would ask Turkey’s parliament to approve Sweden joining NATO. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban is expected to take a similar step.

The outcome is a victory for U.S. President Joe Biden as well, who has touted NATO’s expansion as an example of how Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has backfired on Moscow. Finland has already become the 31st member of the alliance, and Sweden is on deck to become the 32nd.

Biden arrived in Vilnius on Monday evening and was scheduled to meet with Erdogan on Tuesday evening. Biden was also attending a meeting of the North Atlantic Council, of which Sweden is a member, in the afternoon.

It’s unclear how some of Erdogan’s other demands will be resolved. He has been seeking advanced American fighter jets and a path toward membership in the European Union. The White House has expressed support for both, but publicly insisted that the issues were not related to Sweden’s membership in NATO.

Biden, in a statement, thanked Erdogan for committing to transmit Sweden’s ascension protocol to Turkey’s Grand National Assembly for “swift ratification.”

“I stand ready to work with President Erdogan and Turkey on enhancing defense and deterrence in the Euro-Atlantic area,” Biden added.

The reference to enhancing Turkey’s defense capability was a nod to Biden’s commitment to help Turkey acquire new F-16 fighter jets, according to an administration official.

The Biden administration has backed Turkey’s desire to buy 40 new F-16s as well as modernization kits from the U.S. It’s a move some in Congress, most notably Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Menendez, D-N.J, have opposed over Turkey blocking NATO membership for Sweden, its human rights record and other concerns.

The official, who was not authorized to comment and spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the White House had been “cautiously hopeful” but not certain it could get Erdogan to come around before the summit. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and national security adviser Jake Sullivan worked the phones in recent days, speaking with Erdogan as well as senior Turkish and Swedish officials.

In Washington, Menendez said he was “continuing to have my reservations” on providing the fighter aircraft to Turkey. If the Biden administration could show that Turkey wouldn’t use the F-16s belligerently against other NATO members, particularly its neighbor Greece, and meet other conditions, “then there may be a way forward,” Menendez told reporters.

NATO leaders will still have other big questions to address at their summit, particularly Ukraine’s desire to join NATO. The Baltic states — including Lithuania, which is hosting the event — have pushed for a strong show of support and a clear pathway toward membership for Ukraine.

The United States and Germany have resisted that, and Biden said last week that Ukraine wasn’t ready to join. Members of NATO, he told CNN, need to “meet all the qualifications, from democratization to a whole range of other issues,” a nod toward longstanding concerns about governance and corruption in Kyiv.

In addition, some fear that bringing Ukraine into NATO would serve more as a provocation to Russia than as a deterrence against aggression.

Stoltenberg wrote in Foreign Affairs on Monday that the alliance would “upgrade our political ties” by forming a NATO-Ukraine Council, which would be “a platform for decisions and crisis consultation.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is expected to attend the summit on Wednesday. He plans to meet with Biden while there, according to two administration officials who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss plans that have not been announced.

Stoltenberg reiterated that Ukraine will eventually become a member of NATO, a commitment made in 2008 under President George W. Bush. The NATO chief did not outline more specifics.

However, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said NATO had agreed to forgo requiring a “membership action plan,” a decision that he said “shortens our path to NATO.”

Biden spent Monday in the United Kingdom, where he met with King Charles III for the first time since he ascended to the throne. After a royal welcome at Windsor Castle, they discussed mobilizing financial support to combat climate change.

The president also swung by 10 Downing Street to meet with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. It was their sixth meeting, a reflection of close ties between the two countries.

After the NATO summit, Biden will travel to Helsinki to celebrate Finland’s recent entry into NATO and meet with Nordic leaders.

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