Updated: NATO reportedly not inviting Zelensky to The Hague summit to appease Trump, Rubio denies reports
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Editor's note: The article has been updated to reflect comments from U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio denying the United States' opposition to President Volodymyr Zelensky's attendance at the NATO summit.
The United States reportedly opposes President Volodymyr Zelensky's participation at the upcoming NATO summit in The Hague, Italy's ANSA news agency reported on May 14, citing unnamed diplomatic sources.
The allies have thus agreed that appeasing U.S. President Donald Trump takes priority and have not extended an invitation to Ukraine, Euractiv reported, citing its sources. NATO officials have not publicly confirmed the step.
Later in the day on May 15, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio denied reports that the United States opposes Zelensky's participation at the upcoming NATO summit in The Hague.
When asked by reporters whether the U.S. opposed Zelensky's participation, Rubio responded: "No, I don't know where that's coming from."
"Multiple members today of our colleagues in there raised Zelensky being invited. We didn't oppose it," Rubio told reporters in Turkey. "Many leaders who are not members of NATO are invited to NATO conferences — they're not at the leaders' meeting, but they're invited to conferences."
The decision to exclude the Ukrainian president, if accurate, would mark the first time since Russia's full-scale invasion that Zelensky is absent, either physically or virtually, from a NATO summit.
The Ukrainian president has attended every NATO summit since February 2022: in person in 2024 in Washington and 2023 in Vilnius, and virtually in 2022.
According to ANSA, almost all allies have expressed surprise to Washington over this move.
One Dutch official told the NOS broadcaster that denying Zelensky a seat at the table would be "a diplomatic disaster for the Netherlands that no speaker could justify."
NATO foreign ministers are expected to meet informally in Antalya on May 14, where the issue could surface despite the session being designated as non-decision-making.
The summit agenda itself remains limited, reportedly to avoid controversy with Trump. According to ANSA, the Netherlands has scaled down the format to a single session focused on defense spending and alliance capabilities.
Trump has repeatedly criticized NATO members for not meeting the alliance's 2% of GDP defense spending benchmark and has pushed for it to be raised to 5%.
NOS sources noted the summit is still six weeks away and the decision to bar Zelensky could still be reversed.
