The NATO summit's failure to provide decisive security guarantees or material support to Ukraine in the years ahead will enable Russia to maintain its current strategy of degrading Ukraine, fueling the war's continuation until Kyiv is forced into negotiations on Moscow's terms. NATO's 75th anniversary summit in Washington D.C. concluded on July 11. The Western security alliance's joint communique failed to provide any plan or timeline for Ukraine's accession, and instead only claimed that Ukraine's course toward NATO membership was now ''irreversible,'' which means accession will likely remain frozen so long as the war continues. Several alliance members including the United States, Germany, Romania, the Netherlands and Italy claimed they would provide additional strategic air defense components and systems to Ukraine, including Patriot (though many of the batteries had previously been pledged), in addition to dozens of tactical air defense systems including NASAMS, HAWKs, IRIS-T and Gepard. Furthermore, the U.S.,...
