Zelensky to meet Trump at NATO summit after deadly Russian attacks

Volodymyr Zelensky arrived in Ankara on July 7 seeking more Patriot missile interceptors and other air defenses as Russian strikes battered Ukraine, with a planned meeting with Donald Trump at the NATO summit now carrying immediate wartime stakes. After a week of repeated attacks, the question in Ankara was whether the United States would turn support into concrete air-defense and battlefield commitments, or leave the encounter as another summit-stage gesture.

The meeting came after Russian strikes overnight on July 7-8 killed at least seven people across Ukraine, and after one attack on Kyiv was unusual enough that a blast was heard before air-raid sirens sounded. Ukrainian officials have said those kinds of strikes are pushing the country’s air defenses to the limit, and that shortages of Patriot interceptors are making it harder to stop Russian ballistic missiles.

NATO’s 2026 summit is being held on July 7-8 at the Beştepe Presidential Compound, where the alliance says it is building on continued support for Ukraine and addressing its urgent defensive needs. Mark Rutte is chairing the summit, which NATO says is meant to keep Allied military assistance sustainable over the long term. Zelensky used the meeting to press allies for more air-defense systems and more ammunition, with Ukraine’s battlefield needs now tied directly to the pace of missile attacks on its cities.

Trump arrived in Türkiye on July 7 for the summit and was expected to meet separately with Zelensky there. The talks took place as Kyiv faced fresh damage and as Ukraine’s leaders looked for a clearer answer on how much more support Washington is prepared to provide. Zelensky has been explicit that Ukraine needs stronger air defenses, especially Patriot interceptors, as Russian attacks intensify.

The summit also marked a broader diplomatic moment for NATO. The alliance last met in The Hague on June 24-25, 2025, and Ankara is its second summit in Türkiye after Istanbul in 2004. The war is now in its fifth year since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022, and the pressure on Ankara was whether the meeting between Zelensky and Trump would produce a practical shift in Ukraine’s defenses before the next wave of missiles arrives.