Maastricht hosts European Citizens' Summit on ‘Conference on the Future of Europe'

A key NATO summit will open in Ankara today, Tuesday, 7th July. Leaders of the members of the alliance, including US president Donald Trump, are travelling to the Turkish capital for the summit. On Monday (6 July) Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan met in Ankara with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte. According to Turkish media, the parties discussed the agenda for the upcoming NATO summit, as well as current regional and global issues. Erdogan stated that Turkey had completed preparations for the leaders' meeting and expressed hope that the summit would be successful. According to the Turkish president, the key topics of the summit will be collective defense and expanding allied cooperation in the defense industry. He also noted the importance of the Defense Industry Forum, which will be held on the sidelines of the NATO summit. On Monday (6 July 2026), NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte previewed the Ankara Summit, explaining that it will focus on delivery. Allies are expected to demonstrate how they are transforming the commitments made at The Hague last year into stronger armed forces, increased defence production, and more capabilities needed to defend the Alliance. The Secretary General highlighted the progress made by European Allies and Canada in investing 5% of GDP on defence by 2035.  “Here in Ankara, I expect nations to present clear, concrete and credible plans to reach that 5% goal. And the evidence we see so far is impressive,” said Mr Rutte, “Just one year into a 10-year project, we see that European Allies and Canada are already investing around 4% of their GDP in defence and security.” The Secretary General set out how NATO Allies are turning the extra cash into capabilities. “We will announce tens of billions in new contracts that will provide the crucial kit we need to deter and defend”, said Mr Rutte in Ankara, “This will help grow our economies, spread innovation and support hundreds of thousands of jobs, on both sides of the Atlantic.” Support for Ukraine will also be an important focus of the Summit of Allied Heads of State and Government. “Allies and NATO partners must continue to ensure Ukraine gets what it needs,” said the Secretary General, “And let me be clear, all Allies need to pull their weight, so that our support to Ukraine continues to flow. Because Ukraine’s security is so closely linked with our own.” Please read more on our live blog

Nearly half a million Russians have died in fighting in Ukraine, as Vladimir Putin continues to push his country to the brink. His aim of completely controlling the Donbass region, which he annexed after invading Ukraine in 2022, seems more distant than ever. However, Putin can still bomb civilian targets in Kyiv. The Ukrainian Air Force says a "serious shortage" of interceptor missiles meant none of the 23 ballistic missiles fired by Russia at Kyiv on Sunday night were shot down. At least 15 people were killed in the second large-scale Russian attack on the Ukrainian capital in a week, officials said. Seven more were killed in the wider Kyiv region. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has appealed for allies to take "strong decisions" at this week's Nato summit to provide Kyiv with air defences. After the strikes, he said the Ukrainian military had been successful in intercepting cruise missiles and drones – but not ballistic missiles. Sunday's "massive Russian attack" consisted of 68 missiles and 351 strike drones, he said in a post on X. The air force shot down or suppressed 37 missiles and 326 drones, it said. Zelensky warned that Moscow would continue to hit residential buildings as long as defensive Patriot missiles "remain in our allies' stockpiles". After a bleak winter which saw months of fierce Russian bombing of Ukrainian energy infrastructure, the future is beginning to look more positive for Kyiv Russia’s frontline advances have slowed almost to a halt, as Ukrainian counter-attacks and defensive tactics become more effective. Successes in local counterattacks have become more frequent, as Ukrainian forces scale up their use of ground robots and sshort-range drone warfare. The Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) paints a bleak picture of Russian casualties. Between February 2022 and June 2026, there have been as many as 450,000 Russian battlefield deaths and 1.4 million casualties, it says. The UK’s biggest spy agency, GCHQ, has produced a similar figure. In May, GCHQ director Anne Keast-Butler said in her inaugural public speech that nearly 500,000 Russian soldiers had been killed. The massive death toll is a product of several factors, including an attritional warfare strategy in which Moscow sends thousands of troops towards fortified Ukrainian defences, attempting to grind Kyiv’s forces down with sheer manpower. (click image to read more)