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Your support makes all the difference.<\/strong>Read more<\/p>\n NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte<\/a> insisted Monday Ukraine<\/a> would remain a vital topic at an alliance summit this week despite President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s absence from a leaders’ meeting aiming to seal an agreement to boost military spending.<\/p>\n \u201cYou will see important language about Ukraine, including connecting the defense spending up to 2035 to Ukraine, and the need for Ukraine to stay in the fight,\u201d Rutte told reporters on the eve of the two-day summit. \u201cThis is a clear commitment by allies.\u201d<\/p>\n But the Ukrainian leader hasn’t yet publicly confirmed he’ll attend a dinner laid on for leaders attending the NATO summit, where his country has had a diplomatic downgrade from previous alliance meetings, even as leaders stress that their militaries need to muscle up to counter the threat of Russia<\/a>.<\/p>\n It’s a big change since the summit in Washington last year, when the military alliance\u2019s weighty communique included a vow to supply long-term security assistance to Ukraine, and a commitment to back the country \u201con its irreversible path\u201d to NATO membership.<\/p>\n