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Zelensky arrives in Lithuania for summit with B9, Nordic countries

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Zelensky arrives in Lithuania for summit with B9, Nordic countries
Lithuania's President Gitanas Nauseda shakes hands with President Volodymyr Zelensky as he arrives for a summit with the leaders of NATO's eastern and Nordic members (B9 and Nordic countries) on June 2, 2025, in Vilnius, Lithuania. (Petras Malukas / AFP via Getty Images)

President Volodymyr Zelensky arrived in Vilnius on June 2 to participate in a summit of the Bucharest Nine (B9) and the Nordic countries, Zelensky's spokesperson Serhii Nykyforov confirmed for Ukrinform.

The summit is hosted by Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda and will also be attended by NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, who has already arrived, according to Reuters.

The summit is taking place the same day as the second round of Russian-Ukrainian peace talks in Istanbul.

The Vilnius gathering will include leaders from the Baltic countries, Norway, Denmark, Finland, Sweden, Iceland, Poland, Czechia, Slovakia, Hungary, Bulgaria, and Romania. The summit will focus on preparations for the upcoming NATO summit in The Hague later in June and on allied support for Ukraine.

The Hague meeting, which will take place on June 24 and 25, will be the first annual NATO summit since U.S. President Donald Trump returned to the White House.

The alliance faces uncertainty about continued U.S. commitment to NATO as the new administration has signaled plans to reduce its military deployment in Europe.

Trump has also been reluctant to provide new defense aid for Ukraine as he seeks to broker a peace deal between Kyiv and Moscow. Trump's views on Ukraine prompted speculations that Zelensky may not be invited to the summit, or that Ukraine's participation may be scaled down in some way.

Ukrainian delegates arrive in Istanbul for next round of peace talks with Russia
The negotiations follow the first round of Istanbul talks, which concluded on May 16 with an agreement on the largest prisoner exchange of the war but without any progress toward a peace deal.
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Martin Fornusek

Senior News Editor

Martin Fornusek is a news editor at the Kyiv Independent. He has previously worked as a news content editor at the media company Newsmatics and is a contributor to Euromaidan Press. He was also volunteering as an editor and translator at the Czech-language version of Ukraïner. Martin studied at Masaryk University in Brno, Czechia, holding a bachelor's degree in security studies and history and a master's degree in conflict and democracy studies.

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