Trump slams NATO at rally while Biden bolsters Ukraine defense

At the same time NATO leaders were attending the summit in Washington, Donald Trump once again dismissed the alliance.

Donald Trump's words were spoken during an election rally at the Doral golf club in Florida.

- I didn't even know what the hell NATO was too much before, but it didn't take me long to figure it out, like about two minutes. And the first thing I figured out was that they weren't paying. We were paying, we were paying almost fully for NATO - said Donald Trump to his voters.

Donald Trump's comments on NATO came on the first day of the alliance summit, which began on Tuesday in Washington. That same evening, President Joe Biden announced the transfer of five new strategic air defense systems to Ukraine, including four Patriot batteries and one SAMP/T.

In his speech, Joe Biden also assured that the alliance enjoys overwhelming bipartisan support in America because Americans know that the alliance makes America safe. He emphasized that without NATO, we would be dealing with "another war in Europe, American troops fighting and dying, dictators spreading chaos, economic collapse, catastrophe."

The words spoken in Florida are another criticism of Donald Trump's attitude toward NATO. In February, the former President of the United States said he would encourage Russia to "do whatever (...) they want" to other NATO countries that do not fulfill their financial obligations to the alliance.

During the election rally, he recounted a conversation with one of the heads of NATO countries. He said that one of the leaders asked him if, should they not spend 2 percent of GDP on defense and Russia attacked them, the U.S. President would come to their defense.

I said: 'You didn't pay? You're delinquent?'... 'No I would not protect you, in fact I would encourage them to do whatever they want. You gotta pay - Trump said at the time.