“Thanks, but it’s not enough” –

New important announcements from the second day of the NATO Summit in Washington. After the dispatch of five additional strategic air defense systems to Kiev – Italy will send a second Samp-T system – the Alliance announced that Denmark and the Netherlands have begun delivering US-made F-16s to Kiev. The operation is taking place with the “consent of the United States”. Also today was the announcement that from 2026 the US will begin deploying long-range missiles from its ‘Multi-Domain Task Force’ in Germany.

On Italy’s commitment, Prime Minister Meloni on Tuesday evening had underlined how our country has focused “on an extremely important issue, anti-aircraft defense, which means defending above all civilians and critical infrastructure that Russia continues to attack”. As for the commitment to dedicate 2% of GDP to defense spending by 2028, Meloni had assured that Italy “will keep its commitments”, but “will do so compatibly with the situation” and “with the times and possibilities that we have”.

It was then the Minister of Defense, Guido Crosetto, who anticipated that Italy “will probably ask the new Commission (EU) to interpret defense investments as a relevant factor and therefore exclude them from the stability pact”. The doubts expressed by Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini were responded to by Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, also in Washington for the summit. Italy is “an integral part of NATO” and “our commitment is to proceed towards the 2% objective”, assured the head of the Farnesina, adding however that it is an objective that “cannot be achieved immediately”.

Volodymyr Zelensky responded to the announcements of new military aid from the members of the Alliance by considering the glass half full. “Thank you, but it is not enough,” he said regarding the shipment of new Patriot and Samp-T batteries. “The F-16s bring a just and lasting peace closer,” was his reaction regarding the fighters. However, he said, “we need 128 of them, until we have them, we will not be able to match Russia in the skies.”

The Ukrainian president is trying to get as much as possible from this summit, fearing a change of guard at the White House, which would probably lead to a reduction in US (and NATO) commitment in favor of Kiev. “Everyone is waiting for November, even Putin. It’s time to come out of the shadows, to make strong decisions work and not to wait,” he said in reference to the possibility of a Donald Trump victory.

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On social media, the tycoon has returned to complain regarding what he believes is an excessive American commitment, compared to its European allies. Europe should send Kiev 100 billion dollars to “match” what the US has spent, the tycoon wrote, without explaining how he came to this calculation.

Jens Stoltenberg, before the leaders’ meeting behind closed doors, said he was confident that, regardless of the outcome of the presidential elections, “the US will remain a strong and loyal ally of NATO”. The outgoing NATO secretary general expects this summit to provide “a substantial package” of aid to Kiev, including a long-term commitment from NATO. While waiting for the leaders’ final statement, which should show that Ukraine’s path to joining the Alliance is “irreversible”, Foreign Minister Tajani confirmed: it is a “marked path”, which however will materialize “following the war”. In the meantime, he said, “our support for Ukraine is without ifs and buts, even though we all want to achieve peace”.