THE war in Ukraine will dominate a two-day Nato summit starting on Tuesday in Lithuania’s capital, as the Western nations focus on fuelling the Ukrainian military effort against Russia.

The leaders meeting in Vilnius are set to endorse new defence plans outlining a response to any hypothetical bid by Russian President Vladimir Putin to broaden Moscow’s war beyond Ukraine and westward into the military alliance’s territory.

They are expected to focus on continued financial and military support for Ukraine, its exact relationship with Nato, and security guarantees after the war ends.

It is expected the summit will also encourage the 31 member states to increase military support and commit to a new spending goal.

Under a pledge made in 2014, Nato members agreed to halt post-Cold War spending cuts and boost their national military budgets, a moving towards spending 2 per cent of GDP on defence by 2024.

Nato secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg said last week that nations will “set a more ambitious defence investment pledge.”

The United States recently announced it will comply with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s request to supply his army with cluster munitions in a move that has been criticised by human rights groups — and even US allies.

Cluster munitions, which disperse large numbers of small bombs from a rocket or missile, are banned by more than 100 countries including Britain, France and Germany under an international treaty.

They have a high “dud rate,” which means they might not explode on impact and in a residential or farmland area, children are particularly prone to injury as the unexploded bomblets can resemble a small toy and are often picked up by them.

Both Russia and Ukraine have reportedly been using cluster munitions since the start of Russia’s invasion in February 2022.

The US has not signed the treaty banning them, but it has previously criticised Russia’s use of the weapon.

On the ground, a Russian air strike on a school killed four adults as people gathered to receive humanitarian aid, the governor of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region said today, branding the attack “a war crime.”

Overall, Russia fired on 10 settlements in the province over the course of a day, Yuriy Malashko said.

Moscow denies it targets civilian locations.