Spokeswoman of Russia’s Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova. File
| Photo Credit: Reuters

U.S. President Donald Trump offered NATO allies an unexpected warm embrace as they wrapped up a key summit Wednesday (July 8, 2026) after earlier lashing out at them over their response to his war on Iran.

It was an abrupt swing from antagonism to affection within the space of a few short hours, illustrating the wide range of emotions exhibited by the mercurial U.S. leader.

“It was a great meeting, there was a lot of love in that room, a lot of unity,” Mr. Trump told reporters after the closed-door meeting of 32 heads of state at the NATO summit in the Turkish capital Ankara.

Behind closed doors, Mr. Trump had reassured them he wanted the US to stay in the military alliance, saying: “We want to remain with you”, a source inside the session told AFP.

And that was reflected in the final declaration in which NATO leaders reaffirmed their “ironclad commitment” to the mutual assistance clause enshrined in Article 5 of the alliance treaty.

“An attack on one is an attack on all,” it said, in wording that sought to ease concerns about Washington’s commitment to the alliance.

But the day had not begun well with Mr. Trump lashing out over NATO allies’ failure to back his Iran campaign just before the session, threatening to cut trade with Spain, and insisting he still wants NATO member Denmark’s territory of Greenland.

“I’m very upset with NATO… because of what they did with Greenland, and… because of the fact that they didn’t want to help us with the number one state sponsor of terror, that’s Iran,” he said.

Bark worse than bite

But once he came face-to-face with the leaders behind closed doors, his tone changed markedly, according to the source who attended the talks. “There is a strong contrast between what Trump says in public and what he actually says inside,” he said.

He also dialled down his earlier rhetoric on Iran — in which he described them as “scum” and “vicious, violent people” — with his remarks on the matter “not as harsh”, the source said.

And he made no further mention of Spain or Greenland.

Estonian Prime Minister Kristen Michal agreed that Mr. Trump’s tone in the session was more moderated, saying that he had given a “kind of constructive message… that Europe must step up, invest more in defence”.

“So it was kind of a good mood with sort of constructive messages,” he said.

Lithuanian Foreign Minister Kestutis Budrys said Mr. Trump’s outbursts should not necessarily be read as a sign of the alliance fragmenting.

“I wouldn’t see in it an indicator that we are somehow weakening NATO, and that the transatlantic bond is not there,” he said. “I think we should dramatise things less.”

Boost for Ukraine

Stalled efforts to halt the Ukraine war were also back on the agenda, with Mr. Trump pledging to give Kyiv “the right to make” Patriot air-defence missiles as he went into talks with Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy on the sidelines of the summit.

“We’re going to give a licence to you to make Patriots. That’s pretty cool, right,” Mr. Trump told Zelenskyy, whose forces have been struggling to shoot down Russian ballistic missiles as supplies of crucial U.S.-made Patriot interceptors run low.

Despite Moscow’s heavy bombardments in recent days, Kyiv appears to be turning the tide by stabilising the front line and conducting strikes deep into Russia — strikes that Mr. Trump said could help end the war.

“It’s an escalation, but it’s also an escalation that can help lead to an end,” he added, repeating his belief that both Mr. Zelenskyy and Russia’s Vladimir Putin wanted to strike a deal to halt the fighting.

Also in the final NATO declaration, Europe and Canada pledged to keep military support flowing to Ukraine to the tune of 70 billion euros ($80 billion) a year in both 2026 and 2027.

Before leaving Ankara, Mr. Trump was also set to hold talks with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa as he seeks to rebuild the country’s international image as it emerges from years of civil war.

‘A big win for Trump’

The summit comes at a fraught time for the 77-year-old transatlantic alliance, with Mr. Trump demanding members make good on a pledge to ramp up defence spending as Washington takes a step back from Europe.

Keen to avoid a new confrontation with Mr. Trump, NATO allies unveiled tens of billions in new arms contracts on Tuesday (July 7, 2026) in a bid to prove they were making good on a pledge to hike defence spending.

NATO chief Mark Rutte insisted the alliance was emerging stronger from the summit in Turkey — despite the disagreements.

Published – July 08, 2026 08:15 pm IST

U.S. President Donald Trump praised his “chemistry” with Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan as he arrived in Ankara for a NATO summit on Tuesday (July 7, 2026), while hitting out at European allies for their response to his war in Iran.

Mr. Trump was greeted personally by Mr. Erdogan on the tarmac as he descended from Air Force One, before being escorted through the empty streets of the Turkish capital by a guard of riders on white horses.

The summit comes at a fraught time for the 77-year-old transatlantic alliance, as Mr. Trump has lashed out at allies and Washington steps back from Europe.

“I was very disappointed with NATO,” Mr. Trump said, sitting next to Mr. Erdogan at the Turkish leader’s vast presidential palace.

“Frankly, if it (the summit) weren’t held in Turkey, where my friend happens to be a very strong leader, a very strong person, it’s possible that I wouldn’t have attended.”

NATO officials are hoping President Trump’s strong relationship with the Turkish leader could help smooth over the bad blood caused by the Iran war.

“It’s a chemistry that works between us,” Mr. Trump said.

In a potentially major boost for Mr. Erdogan, Mr. Trump said Washington would consider selling F-35 fighter jets to Turkey, after booting it out of the programme in 2019 over Ankara’s purchase of a Russian system.

Mr. Turkey has long sought to resolve the question of its readmittance to the F35 programme and the lifting of US sanctions that have soured ties and hampered Turkish defence projects — and has looked to Trump’s visit to break the deadlock.

“Mr Trump has also personally given us his word on this matter,” Mr. Erdogan said through a translator.

‘Testing’

European leaders are aiming to avoid a bust-up with the mercurial U.S. leader that could deal a further blow to NATO’s credibility, after Mr. Trump repeatedly cast doubt on Washington’s commitment to protecting its allies.

But ahead their main session on Wednesday, the U.S. President was clearly still smarting over the restrictions some allies placed on U.S. forces using bases at the start of the Iran conflict.

“I was testing to see whether or not they’d be there, because I’ve long said that we helped them,” he said.

“Italy turned us down, and Germany turned us down, and France turned us down.”

Mr. Trump also risked reopening another old wound with NATO when he reiterated his stance that Greenland “should be controlled by the United States, not by Denmark”.

In a bid to prove to Mr. Trump that they are making good on a pledge last year to ramp up defence spending, NATO allies unveiled tens of billions in arms deals ahead of his arrival.

NATO chief Mark Rutte has insisted European countries are “delivering” by bolstering military budgets and moving to take more responsibility for the defence of their continent in the face of Russia.

“These are billions that are invested in our security, boosting our economies and supporting hundreds of thousands of new jobs,” Mr. Rutte said at a glitzy industry forum.

Zelenskyy makes pitch

While NATO wanted to focus Mr. Trump’s attention on its surging defence budgets, the stalled U.S. efforts to try to halt the war in Ukraine also rose back up the agenda.

Mr. Trump spoke to Russian President Vladimir Putin ahead of the NATO gathering and is expected to meet Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky on the summit sidelines on Wednesday (July 8, 2026).

“I think they both want to make a deal,” Mr. Trump said.

“It’s too bad it took so long, but I think something’s going to come out.”

Mr. Zelenskyy for his part urged NATO to step up help for the country’s air defences as it struggles with shortages of crucial interceptors to shoot down Russian missiles.

“Please let more determination and more decisions for air defence be one of the key outcomes of this NATO summit,” he said.

The Ukrainian leader also made a new pitch for Kyiv to become a member of the alliance, despite Trump previously shutting the door.

“Do you really believe it would be right to live outside NATO, a country and a people with this level of defensive capability?” Mr. Zelenskyy said.

“Ukraine in NATO is a source of extraordinary defensive capability.”

Published – July 07, 2026 10:07 pm IST

People walk past billboards built for upcoming NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey, on July 1, 2026.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Representative image.
| Photo Credit: Getty Images/iStockphoto

There were many firsts to PM Modi’s two day visit to Russia, his first since the invasion of Ukraine, and his first destination for a bilateral summit in his 3rd tenure in office, the first time they held the Annual Summit since 2021, and the first time an Indian leader was awarded Russia’s . While officials billed it as a purely bilateral visit, it won attention internationally, and censure from western capitals

 To start, let’s just tell you what agreements were announced 

1. .Putin accepted Modi’s request to issue military discharges for all Indian’s misled into becoming military recruits on the Russian warfront. The Hindu had first reported on the plight of Indian soldiers

2. A 81-point joint statement that included convergent positions on Ukraine and Gaza

3. Joint Vision Statement on the development of strategic areas of Russia-India economic cooperation for the period up to 2030- and $100 billion target for trade by 2030

4. An agreement to facilitate trade and investment in Russia’s Far East, which includes the Chennai-Vladivostok maritime corridor

5. India will open 2 new consulates in Kazan and Yekaterinburg

I also spoke to several Indian businessmen on how the PM’s visit will help resolve their big issues of trade, payments, banking and sanctions.

So why were western countries , mainly US and Ukraine upset by the visit

1. The Modi-Putin meeting just hours after Russia rained 40plus missiles on Ukraine, including on a children’s hospital drew this tweet from Ukraine President Zelenskyy

2. Formal talks came on a day Washington began a special NATO summit with western allies and Zelenskyy, and the Modi visit spiked its plans to show Putin had been isolated by their solidarity

3. PM Modi spoke about the need for peace, decried civilian losses, but did not criticise Mr. Putin for the invasion of Ukraine

4. The India Russia Joint Statement issued spoke of the conflict “around Ukraine”, not in Ukraine, accepting Russian territorial claims

5. The US State Department said it had raised concerns with New Delhi on its ties with Russia, and US Ambassador Eric Garcetti, in particularly blunt comments this week, said that in conflict, “theres no such thing as Strategic Autonomy”

What then is India’s Message from Moscow

 1.     Bilateral ties, that have been flagging for some years, appear to have been set back on track with the Modi-Putin meeting. It is significant the PM Modi made the visit to Moscow for the talks, and spent 8-9 hours with President Putin rather than have meetings at the SCO or on the sidelines of the upcoming BRICS summit in Kazan.

2.     Economic issues and opportunities arising from the Ukraine conflict, whether it is on payment mechanisms to avoid sanctions, new connectivity routes or on more predictable discounted oil supplies are a major priority

3.     India is concerned about Russia-China ties coming closer- but while the West may want China to pull away from Russia, India wants Russia to feel less dependent on China

4.     India will continue to walk its own road on the Ukraine conflict- backing peace, but not criticizing Russia or joining the western coalition in any manner

5.     India may not be seeking a role in mediation in the conflict, but it remains one of the few countries, like Hungary, Turkey etc that can speak with both Putin and Zelenskyy and the West

WV Take: The resumption of India-Russia annual summits after three years is an important inflexion point- and along with bilateral agreements, and the personal Modi-Putin rapport may send the message that New Delhi now believes the conflict in Ukraine has turned an irreversible corner. For Moscow, the big message is that Russia is not isolated, and Putin’s visits to Beijing, Hanoi and Pyongyang as well as visits by the Hungarian PM reinforce that while the western coalition is fiercely with Ukraine, Russia believes it has the global majority. The most important outcome is to watch is if and how this changes the Delhi-Washington relationship, with elections and more turbulence expected.

Script and Presentation: Suhasini Haidar

Production: Gayatri Menon and Shibu Narayan

In yet another gaffe amid concerns over his re-election bid, US President Joe Biden today mistakenly introduced Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky as his Russian rival Vladimir Putin.

“And now I want to hand it over to the president of Ukraine, who has as much courage as he has determination, ladies and gentlemen, President Putin,” he said, referring to Zelensky while speaking on the sidelines of the NATO Summit in Washington.

Zelensky looked nonplussed, then was seen shaking his head and smiling to himself.

Biden, 81, then quickly corrected himself and said, “President Putin, you’re going to beat President Putin, President Zelensky. I am so focused on beating Putin.”

Zelensky, who had by then recovered from his bafflement, responded by saying, “I am better (than Putin).”

Biden is Blunder King

Watch Zelensky’s reaction when Biden calls him Putin! pic.twitter.com/SlGVFBB9ze

— BALA (@erbmjha) July 12, 2024

“You are a hell of a lot better,” Biden replied before Zelensky began his address.

Shortly afterward, Biden made another blunder when he referred to his deputy, Kamala Harris, as “Vice President” Trump at a high-stakes news conference.

ALSO READ | “Great Job Joe”: Donald Trump Mocks Joe Biden Gaffes

“Look, I wouldn’t have picked Vice President Trump to be vice president if she was not qualified to be president. So start there,” he said as he responded to a question from a journalist about his confidence in Indian-origin leader Kamala Harris.

Oh MY GOD.

Now Biden has just referred to Vice president Kamala Harris as VICE PRESIDENT TRUMP.

What the fuck is going on?!

This is actually painful to watch.pic.twitter.com/fHYKtk95BF

— Supertanskiii (@supertanskiii) July 11, 2024

The latest gaffes come amid growing calls for Biden, who is already the oldest person to ever serve as the US president, to step aside.

The calls have grown louder ever since his poor performance against Donald Trump, 78, in a US presidential debate two weeks ago.

Even members of his Democratic Party are concerned about his ability to win the November 5 election.

South Korea’s President Yoon Suk Yeol
| Photo Credit: AP

The U.S. and South Korea signed joint nuclear deterrence guidelines, weeks after North Korea and Russia struck a defense pact that deepened concerns in the region about the North’s growing nuclear threats.

Meeting Thursday on the sidelines of a NATO summit in Washington, President Joe Biden and South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol commended what they called “the tremendous progress” that their countries’ alliance have made a year after creating a joint Nuclear Consultative Group.

Also Read: Till Russia do us part? NATO at 75, an enduring alliance

Last year, the U.S. and South Korea launched the bilateral consultation body to enhance information-sharing on nuclear and strategic operations. The U.S. will retain the control of its nuclear weapons, and the body’s establishment was meant to ease South Korean worries about North Korean nuclear threats.

The two leaders authorized “the U.S.-ROK Guidelines for Nuclear Deterrence and Nuclear Operations on the Korean Peninsula” that was signed by their defense officials earlier Thursday, according to South Korea’s presidential office. ROK stands for the Republic of Korea, South Korea’s official name.

“The presidents underscored that the Guidelines document provides a solid foundation for enhancing U.S.-ROK extended deterrence cooperation in an integrated manner,” the joint statement said.

The first such guidelines agreed between the two countries, they’re part of an effort to flesh out a U.S. commitment to defend the South. Washington has long promised to use all its capabilities, including nuclear weapons, to defend Seoul if it is attacked.

The Biden-Yoon statement said that any nuclear attack by North Korea against South Korea will be met with “a swift, overwhelming and decisive response.”

Kim Tae-hyo, a deputy national security director in South Korea, told reporters that the agreement calls for integrating U.S. nuclear assets and South Korean conventional weapons to better respond to North Korean nuclear threats. He said that the two countries will conduct joint military exercises to help implement the deterrence guidelines.

Details of the South Korean-U.S. nuclear deterrence guidelines, which Seoul called confidential, were not available. But North Korea is still expected to respond angrily, as it has previously accused its rivals of using the consultation group to plot a nuclear attack on the North.

North Korea’s developing nuclear arsenal is a major security threat to South Korea, which has no nuclear weapons and largely relies on the U.S. “nuclear umbrella.” Some experts and politicians in South Korea have openly questioned the credibility of the U.S. commitment, as recent North Korean weapons tests show the country is getting closer to acquiring long-range nuclear missiles capable of reaching the U.S. mainland.

Worries about North Korea have further deepened since North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Russian President Vladimir Putin in June signed a deal requiring each country to provide aid to the other if it is attacked, and vowed to boost other cooperation. Analysts say the accord represents the strongest connection between the two countries since the end of the Cold War.

Washington:

All was going according to plan. President Joe Biden was projecting himself as the leader of the free world as he hosted a NATO summit and then, in a moment, an embarrassing slip of the tongue.

With Biden struggling to convince many Americans that he remains fit for office, NATO leaders have been offering him votes of confidence, however delicately, at least in part out of fear of another Donald Trump presidency. 

Biden was closing out NATO’s three-day 75th-anniversary summit in Washington, vowing forcefully, “Ukraine will prevail” against Russian President Vladimir Putin and hailing the courage of Ukraine’s iconic wartime leader, Voldymyr Zelensky.

Turning to Zelensky in his war fatigues, Joe Biden said, “Ladies and gentlemen, President Putin.”

Biden quickly corrected himself and Zelensky, a former comedian, promptly made light of the gaffe, saying, “I am better than Putin.”

But the momentary lapse quickly revived memories of his debate two weeks earlier against Trump — he had failed in his own task, to reassure the public he still had his wits.

Biden ‘in charge’

Whether motivated by direct observation, fear of the return of Donald Trump or a simple reluctance to offend their host, no leaders openly questioned the competence of Biden, who at 81 is six years older than the alliance itself.

French President Emmanuel Macron said he spoke to Biden at length at a White House dinner for leaders.

“I saw as always a president who is in charge, clear on the issues he knows well,” Macron said.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz similarly said that Biden “showed leadership for our common alliance.”

“Slips of the tongue happen, and if you keep a close enough eye on everyone, you will find enough,” Scholz said.

New UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said that senility allegations against Biden were misguided and that the two allies covered wide ground for nearly one hour in the Oval Office, longer than expected.

“We did it at pace. He was on good form,” Starmer, whose Labour Party last week swept out the Conservatives and has no love lost with Trump, told British media before the summit gaffe.

Polish President Andrzej Duda, who had forged close ties with Trump but has appreciated Biden’s support for Ukraine, told reporters: “I talked with President Biden, and there is no doubt that everything is ok.”

Finnish President Alexander Stubb, asked if he had concerns about the United States, said that in democracies there is “always turmoil before elections.”

“I have absolutely no concern about the capacity of the current president of the United States to lead his country and to lead our fight for Ukraine and to lead NATO,” he said.

“The only thing I’m worried about is that the political climate in the United States right now is too toxic, is very polarized, and that doesn’t leave enough room for a civilized and constructive debate” on policy, he told reporters. 

Many NATO leaders privately fear a victory in November of Trump, who has loudly criticized the alliance, with its promise of collective defense, as an unfair burden to the United States.

Trump aides have mused about conditioning aid to Ukraine to force Kyiv to surrender territory and make a quick deal to end the war, which they call a distraction from a larger challenge of China.

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, while saying she would not comment on the US election, stressed that the United States and Europe would remain united no matter who wins the election.

“You saved us once,” she said of the United States. “Please stick to that way of working.”

One discordant voice in NATO has been Hungary’s populist prime minister Viktor Orban. 

He traveled to Russia and China, as well as Ukraine, before the NATO summit and, after it is over, was heading to Florida to see Trump.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and U.S. President Joe Biden react as they attend a Ukraine Compact meeting, on the sidelines of the NATO’s 75th anniversary summit in Washington, U.S. July 11, 2024.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

A defiant Joe Biden insisted Thursday that he will run for another term as U.S. president and beat Donald Trump, as a string of verbal gaffes at a major summit threw a harsh new spotlight on his fitness.

In a high stakes press conference at the end of the NATO summit in Washington, the 81-year-old acknowledged the need to “allay fears” among Democrats but said he was determined not to step aside.

His bid to portray himself as in command was undermined by introducing Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky as his Russian foe Vladimir Putin earlier in the day, and then referring to Vice President Kamala Harris as “Vice President Trump” at the news conference.

Mr. Biden’s candidacy has been in crisis since a disastrous debate performance against Mr. Trump two weeks ago renewed concerns around his age — and the rare solo press conference, lasting about an hour, was designed to show he still has what it takes.

“I’m the most qualified person to run for president. I beat him once, and I will beat him again,” Mr. Biden said of Mr. Trump.

Already the oldest president in U.S. history, Mr. Biden said he was “not in this for my legacy” but to “complete the job I started.”

The president has faced a steady drumbeat of Democrats calling for him to abandon his 2024 candidacy, fearing that Mr. Trump is in a position to beat him.

More calls from House representatives came Thursday night after the news conference.

Mr. Biden made clear he supported Ms. Harris — who as vice president would take over from him in the event of an emergency, but is also seen by a growing number of Democrats as a stronger candidate at the top of the ticket.

‘Pace myself’

Amid reports that Mr. Biden’s campaign was quietly testing Ms. Harris’s strength in a theoretical match-up against Mr. Trump, the president said he would not have picked her if “she was not qualified to be president.”

He also denied reports that he needed to go to bed by 8 p.m., a time at which he was still holding his news conference on Thursday.

But after blaming his debate debacle on a mixture of jet lag and a cold he admitted it would be “smarter for me to pace myself a little more.”

He stressed too that neurological exams showed he was in “good shape” and said he would take another if his doctors recommended one, but they hadn’t.

Mr. Biden also fielded a series of foreign and domestic policy questions with detailed if occasionally meandering answers and relatively few slip-ups, though he did mix up Europe and Asia.

With questions swirling about his ability to hold his own against autocratic leaders like Mr. Putin or China’s Xi Jinping, Mr. Biden said he was “ready to deal with them now and three years from now.”

Yet his relatively assured performance failed to stop the bleeding, with three more Democratic lawmakers calling for him to quit the race, bringing the total to 17.

Mr. Trump meanwhile mocked Mr. Biden over his gaffes during the press conference itself.

“Crooked Joe begins his ‘Big Boy’ Press Conference with, ‘I wouldn’t have picked Vice President Trump to be vice president… Great job, Joe!” Mr. Trump said on his Truth Social site.