The alliance’s summit will minimize references to either Russia or Ukraine to avoid antagonizing the U.S. president who has sided with the aggressor.

At its first summits after Russia began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, NATO gave President Volodymyr Zelenskyy pride of place at its table. It won't be the same this time. Europe's biggest land conflict since World War II is now in its fourth year and still poses an existential threat to the continent.

Russia shows no signs it plans to wind down its war in Ukraine, with an estimated 695,000 troops deployed across an expanded front line and another 121,000 in strategic reserve, according to Ukraine’s commander-in-chief Oleksandr Syrskyi.