Serving his Russian master remains priority for Trump as he again plans to dodge Zelensky at NATO

In a move seen by diplomats as both petty and dangerous, Donald Trump will once again snub Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky – this time at the upcoming NATO summit in The Hague. It follows his early exit from the G7 in Canada, where he walked out before their scheduled meeting and left the Ukrainian delegation “frustrated and empty-handed,” according to Reuters.

At the NATO summit on July 25, Zelensky has been quietly excluded from the main event. He will attend only a formal dinner the night before, with no meeting of the NATO–Ukraine Council and no chance to address leaders directly. Instead, he will speak at a separate defense industry forum held on the sidelines.

According to The Times, the summit itself will be reduced to a brief 2.5-hour session — a schedule designed specifically to accommodate Trump’s short attention span and aversion to detailed diplomacy.

“It is about keeping the summit focused, short and sweet,” one diplomat said. “Trump can be impatient and has… a short attention span.”

What’s absent is even more telling: the final NATO communiqué will reportedly make no mention of Ukraine at all. While Russia will be labeled a “direct threat,” Ukraine’s NATO aspirations—enshrined in its constitution and supported by a majority of member states—will be ignored completely.

In effect, Trump is aligning with the Kremlin’s demands. Russia has long sought to block Ukraine’s path to NATO and demands “security guarantees” that amount to a Western surrender of Ukrainian sovereignty. Trump’s moves signal he is willing to deliver precisely that—by freezing Ukraine out, refusing meetings, and pushing to divide NATO on several issues, surely to please Moscow.

While NATO prepares to adopt a new 5% GDP defense spending target—meant to appease Trump’s rhetoric about Europe “paying its share”—the alliance’s core mission of collective defense is being quietly gutted.

Lithuanian Foreign Minister Kęstutis Budrys confirmed Ukraine is no longer on the agenda, stating bluntly:

“There have been no expectations of an invitation in The Hague.”

Trump’s strategy of selling US foreign policy to Moscow isn’t just humiliating for Ukraine. It is humiliating for the United States, which once led the free world. By placating Putin’s red lines and sidelining a wartime ally, Trump is broadcasting a message of weakness, division, and strategic confusion.

The United States helped build NATO to deter dictators and the authoritarians seeking to rip apart western civilization. Trump now seems willing to hollow it out in exchange for Russian cash and authoritarian power.