A Russian missile attack Monday on a shopping center in the central Ukrainian city of Kremenchuk was a stark reminder of the horrors of the war, with some seeing the timing of the attack — when G7 leaders met in Germany and just ahead of NATO — as a direct message from Moscow. Leaders of the world’s largest defense alliance gather in Madrid this week for the NATO summit in 2022.
The high-stakes meeting from June 28-30 comes at a time of heightened global tensions amid Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Mr Klitschko told reporters at the NATO summit site: “Wake up, guys. This is happening now. You’re next, this will be knocking on your door in the blink of an eye.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who will address NATO leaders by video on Wednesday, called the raid on the mall an “terrorist” act.
Russia’s state space agency Roscosmos marked the opening of the summit by releasing satellite images and coordinates of the Madrid conference room where it is held, along with coordinates for the White House, the Pentagon and government headquarters in London, Paris and Berlin.
The Russian space agency said NATO planned to declare Russia an enemy at the summit, adding that it would publish the precise coordinates of the meeting place “just in case”.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said the summits on Wednesday and Thursday would provide a blueprint for the alliance “in a more dangerous and unpredictable world”.
His words became reality when Russia invaded Ukraine in February, further deteriorating relations between NATO and the Kremlin.
Harry Nedelcu, head of policy at Rasmussen Global and responsible for Task Force Free Ukraine, told Al Jazeera that NATO will likely agree at the summit to bolster its presence on the eastern flank.
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