IRIA News

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The leaders of NATO’s eastern flank countries, the Baltic states, and the five Nordic nations gathered in Vilnius, Lithuania, on June 2, 2025, for a high-level summit aimed at forging a common position ahead of NATO’s crucial June 24–25 meeting in The Hague.

Hosted by Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda at the historic Palace of the Grand Dukes, the summit served as both a platform for strategic coordination and a potent symbol of transatlantic cohesion in the face of continued Russian aggression.

Attending the summit were heads of state and government from Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Norway, Iceland, and the Bucharest Nine (B9) group, which includes Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, and Bulgaria. NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy were also present as special guests, underlining the gravity and urgency of the discussions.

The Vilnius gathering came just weeks before NATO’s official summit in the Netherlands, and it is widely viewed as a key precursor meeting where frontline NATO states can consolidate their messaging, especially about Ukraine’s NATO aspirations, deterrence measures on NATO’s eastern flank, and increased defense spending.

Poland leads the call for increased military spending

Among the most vocal participants was Polish President Andrzej Duda, who arrived in Vilnius one day before the summit. Duda reiterated Poland’s proposal to raise NATO’s minimum defense spending target from the current 2% of GDP to 3%.

I met with President of Poland @AndrzejDuda.

We discussed bilateral relations, diplomatic efforts, and the importance of pressuring Russia to bring about a just peace. We also have mutually beneficial economic projects, and I look forward to their successful implementation.

We… pic.twitter.com/533vrE5pss

— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) June 2, 2025

Duda emphasized that the existing threshold, established during the Cold War, was no longer adequate to counter the multifaceted and escalating threat posed by the Kremlin.

“This is no longer a time for symbolic commitments. We must be realistic. Only a 3% defense floor will demonstrate to both our adversaries and allies that Europe is serious about collective defense,” a Polish official accompanying the delegation said.

This proposal is expected to be a focal point at the upcoming Hague summit, particularly as the U.S. continues to pressure European allies to assume a greater share of the defense burden.

Joint strategic goals

According to diplomatic sources, one of the core outcomes of the Vilnius is the joint communique advocating:

• The accelerated reinforcement of NATO’s eastern defenses,
• The streamlining of arms deliveries to Ukraine, and
• Long-term investment in the European defense industrial base to ensure sustainable military readiness.

While consensus on these points is reportedly strong, negotiations continue behind closed doors on the language regarding Ukraine’s NATO membership and future security guarantees.

Support for Ukraine’s NATO membership

Despite a more hesitant mood among some Western capitals, Nordic, Baltic, and Central European leaders used the Vilnius platform to reaffirm their unwavering support for Ukraine’s NATO membership aspirations.

In a joint statement, the presidents of Poland, Romania, and Lithuania declared: “We stand firm on Allied decision and commitment regarding Ukraine’s irreversible path to full Euro-Atlantic integration, including NATO membership. Ukraine has the right to choose its security arrangements and to decide its future, free from outside interference.”

This collective position underscores deep frustration with what is perceived as a lack of clarity and resolve in some parts of the alliance, especially following recent remarks by the U.S. President Donald Trump, who claimed the support for Ukraine’s NATO membership was a cause of the war. Trump also suggested that Ukraine should not expect membership in the future.

Nonetheless, eastern and northern European NATO members remain steadfast. Their message is that halting NATO expansion eastward would reward Russian aggression and betray the principle of sovereign self-determination.

Their position comes at a time when the Russian President, Vladimir Putin, has issued fresh conditions for ending the war in Ukraine, including a demand for a written pledge from Western leaders to halt NATO enlargement and lift portions of the sanctions imposed on Moscow.

A Coalition of the Willing

While Ukraine’s full NATO membership remains a complex and divisive issue within the alliance, Monday’s summit in Vilnius reinforced the sense that a “coalition of the willing” is emerging, one that is determined to keep Ukraine’s Euro-Atlantic trajectory alive.

Participants included all five Nordic countries, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Norway, and Iceland, who now, following Finland and Sweden’s accession, represent a consolidated northern flank within NATO.

Europe, together with America, has better weapons than Russia. We also have stronger tactical solutions – our operation “Spiderweb” yesterday proved that. Russia must feel what its losses mean. That is what will push it toward diplomacy.

And when Russia takes losses in this… pic.twitter.com/7vel0PRFrn

— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) June 2, 2025

Their security calculations have shifted dramatically following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and their presence at the summit reflects a broadening of NATO’s geographic and strategic coherence.

Also present were representatives from the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Estonia, Latvia, and Bulgaria, signifying a united voice among newer NATO members that share both geographic proximity and historical memory of Russian/Soviet aggression.

The road to the Hague

With the Vilnius summit setting the tone, all eyes now turn to The Hague later this month, where NATO leaders will convene to chart the alliance’s course in the shadow of war and geopolitical realignment.

Key issues at stake will include:

• NATO’s deterrence posture on the eastern front,
• Burden-sharing commitments, especially in defense spending,
• The long-term relationship with Ukraine, and
• NATO’s response to the evolving threat from Russia and its partners, including Belarus and potentially China.

If Vilnius is any indication, the Hague summit may see increased momentum for a more muscular NATO posture, and potentially a historic shift in how the alliance funds and sustains its collective defense.