Kremlin warns of expanded “buffer zone” following NATO summit in Ankara

On Wednesday and Thursday, Russia issued a series of warnings in response to the NATO summit in Ankara.

Moscow condemned the alliance’s decisions on military aid to Ukraine and the rhetoric surrounding deep strikes on Russian territory, calling it all a dangerous escalation capable of prolonging the war.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Thursday that the United States is mistaken in believing that Ukraine’s deep strikes on Russian territory could help bring the conflict to an end. According to him, such actions will produce the opposite result.

“This will lead to us having to create a wider security zone — a wider buffer zone. Consequently, stoking tensions and actions leading to escalation will in no way contribute to the peace process,” Peskov said, as reported by Reuters.

Peskov also commented on Trump’s unexpected proposal regarding the possible introduction of a no-fly zone over Ukraine — a concept that, according to the Kremlin, had not previously been raised by the American side. According to United24 Media, the spokesman said: “In any case, this concerns the actions of the armed forces of a NATO country on Ukrainian territory. That is precisely what the special military operation is being conducted against.”

Russia condemns NATO’s pledge of €70 billion in aid to Ukraine

At the July 7–8 summit, 32 NATO member states pledged to provide approximately €70 billion (approximately €69.9 billion at the USD/EUR exchange rate as of July 10, 2026) in defense aid to Ukraine for 2026, with the intention of maintaining a similar level of funding in 2027. In addition, the alliance announced arms deals worth at least approximately €43.7 billion and reaffirmed its “ironclad commitment” to collective defense under Article 5.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova called NATO’s decisions dangerous and warned that they could have catastrophic consequences for the entire world. Zakharova urged the alliance’s strategists to “stop and think” before leading the world toward catastrophe, cautioning that the current confrontation is pushing Europe toward resource exhaustion and military escalation.

Putin remains “open to dialogue”

Despite the heated rhetoric, Peskov said that President Vladimir Putin remains “open to dialogue” and is ready for another phone call with Trump, according to PBS NewsHour and the Anadolu Agency. According to Reuters, the two leaders spoke by phone over the weekend, before the summit began, and agreed to continue contacts “in the near future.” Peskov confirmed that a call between them scheduled for July 8 did not take place, saying Trump was occupied with other matters on the sidelines of the summit.

On Wednesday, Trump met with Vladimir Zelensky in Turkey as part of what a senior American official described as a new push to end the war.