Russia.

A formal timeline for joining the military alliance hasn't yet been agreed at the summit in Washington, but the group's 32 members said they had unwavering support for Ukraine's war effort.

NATO has also announced closer integration with Ukraine's military, and a commitment to $40 billion of aid in the next year, including the delivery of US-built F-16 fighter jets and more air defence systems.

China has warned NATO against provoking confrontation over its ties with Russia after the alliance accused Beijing of playing a key role in helping Moscow's war on Ukraine.

NATO leaders said that China had become a decisive enabler of Russia.

Beijing has rejected the accusation, claiming the alliance is looking for excuses to expand its influence eastwards.

Let's speak to our security correspondent, Frank Gardner.

Frank, how significant are these exchanges of comments on NATO and China?

They are very significant, because it's the first time that NATO has called out China and essentially accused it of not being neutral, as it would like to make out, in Russia's war with Ukraine.

This summit, Gita, is really about three things.

It's about Ukraine, Ukraine-Russia, China, and President Biden.

And let's deal with the latter one first, because hanging over this is the kind of cloud of uncertainty about whether President Joe Biden is still up to the job.

An increasing number of Democratic figures and backers, including George Clooney in the last 24 hours, who raised a lot of money for Joe Biden's campaign in the past, they have come out and said, look, he's not up to the job anymore.

He's too old.

He's six years older than NATO, and NATO is 75 years old.

So that is a bit of a worry.

And I think the leaders who gather there from these 32 nations will be looking very closely at him, thinking, if this guy wins, first of all, can he beat Donald Trump in the November elections?

And if he does, can he still be the leading light of NATO over the next four years?

When it comes to Ukraine-Russia, yep, they've pledged lots of money, but there are cracks here.

There are movements afoot in Europe of far right and far left, not even far, where these are groups that don't necessarily see Russia as a threat and would like to force Ukraine to reach some kind of a peace deal, some kind of accommodation with Russia, which basically means surrendering all the land that Russia has already taken.

Then there's China.

And as you say, they've issued this final communique where they've accused China of essentially aiding and abetting Russia's war effort in Ukraine.

China denies this and also warns NATO against getting involved in the Asia-Pacific region, where China has been steadily taking over the South China Sea.

And Frank, just to go back to the top point and the question that is really dominating political debate in the US and the future of Joe Biden.

There is another moment where the president is going to be under scrutiny today because he's taking questions from the press, but we're not yet seeing the key Democrat leaders come out and say that he has to go, even though there are a lot of noises and a lot of concerns being raised, including, you say, by fundraisers.

Yeah, that's right.

So far, only one senator has come out to say he should step down or step aside, rather.

But privately, there are quite a lot of voices.

There have been a few congressmen and women who have asked him to step aside for the sake of the country.

But the US system is rather different from ours in the UK.

So here in Britain, as Alistair Campbell once put it, Tony Blair's spin doctor, he said, look, the men in gray suits will come in and have a word with the prime minister and say, look, come on, you've got to move aside.

It's time.

In America, it doesn't work like that.

It's down to the president alone.

Only Joe Biden can step aside.

And he's convinced he's still the right guy for the job.

He said, only God can move me aside.

I mean, it's sort of, frankly, a little bit delusional, because clearly there are signs that his cognitive ability in that debate with Donald Trump is worrying.

And George Clooney has seen him in private and has reportedly said, actually, what you saw there in the debate is repeated in private.

And there is something called the six-minute theory, which is that if Russian intercontinental ballistic missiles are heading for the continental United States, in theory, you've got six minutes.

Actually, you've probably got a lot less.

But a president has got to decide, how do they respond?

Is it a false alarm?

Do they retaliate?

And the question is, is the commander in chief, in this case, up to the job?

And Frank, of course, others have said that, well, look at George Clooney, that there has been some difference of opinion between George Clooney and his wife, Amal Clooney, on, for example, the Israel-Hamas question and the White House.

So are there other political questions afoot here?

And the White House, obviously, have pointed out that Joe Biden is the man who has beaten

Donald Trump once already.

He has a proven track record.

That was four years ago and more.

So there are indications that his state of mind and body have changed between that time when he beat Donald Trump.

And I think the Democrat—look, I'm not an expert on U.S. politics, but the signal coming out from the kind of main body of the Democratic Party is that, judge him on his record.

He's been a firm supporter of Ukraine.

He's enabled all that military aid to go to defend Ukraine against Russian aggression.

You know, he is an international statesman with a long track record.

Judge him on that, not on just one simple—one debate where he, according to the Democrats, had a bit of a cold.

They've even said he had jet lag from two weeks earlier.

These sound like excuses, but nevertheless, I think how he performs at this summit and how he has been performing will be crucial.

And Sir Keir Starmer, who's over there on his first big overseas trip since taking office, has been meeting him with bilaterals.

There are going to be, I think, quite a lot of meetings that will be judging him—Joe

Biden, that is—on whether he has still got it, as it were.

But there are worries.

And, you know, Donald Trump is a very strong performer in these things.

His ideas may be anathema to most people in NATO, but he has—he commands millions of

Americans.

Let's not forget that.

Frank Gardner, indeed, thank you very much, indeed, for just talking about some of the issues that are at play in that NATO summit and in the U.S. at the moment.