WASHINGTON — More than 20 NATO member nations are hitting the Western military alliance’s defense spending target this year, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said Monday, as Russia’s war in Ukraine has raised the threat of an expanding conflict in Europe.

The estimated figure, a record, is a nearly fourfold increase from 2021 in the number of the 32 NATO members meeting the spending guideline. Only six nations were meeting the goal that year, before Russian President Vladimir Putin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

“Europeans are doing more for their collective security than just a few years ago,” Stoltenberg said in a speech at the Wilson Center research group.

After the speech, Stoltenberg met at the White House with President Joe Biden, who said the alliance has become “larger, stronger and more united than it’s ever been” during Stoltenberg’s tenure.

“Together, we’ve deterred further Russian aggression in Europe,” Biden said. “We’ve strengthened NATO’s eastern flank, making it clear that we’ll defend every single inch of NATO territory.”

Stoltenberg, who has been NATO’s secretary general since 2014, noted that allies were buying more military equipment from the U.S. “So NATO is good for U.S. security, but NATO is also good for U.S. jobs,” he said.

NATO members agreed last year to spend at least 2% of their gross domestic product on defense. The surge in spending reflects the worries about the war in Ukraine.

Some countries also are concerned about the possible reelection of former President Donald Trump, who has characterized many NATO allies as freeloading on U.S. military spending and said on the campaign trail that he would not defend NATO members that don’t meet defense spending targets.

Plea from accused Sikh: An Indian national extradited to the United States pleaded not guilty Monday to charges arising from an alleged failed plot to assassinate a Sikh separatist leader in New York.

Nikhil Gupta, 52, was extradited Friday from the Czech Republic; he was arrested in Prague a year ago. His attorney, Jeff Chabrowe, told a U.S. magistrate judge in Manhattan that his client might seek bail at a future court date. Gupta is scheduled to appear before a district judge June 28.

In November, U.S. prosecutors said a plot to kill Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, a prominent Sikh separatist leader living in New York City, had been thwarted in June 2023 after a sting operation led by the Drug Enforcement Administration.

According to an indictment, Gupta was recruited in May by an unidentified Indian government employee to orchestrate the assassination. Gupta has denied any involvement.

California wildfires: Firefighters increased their containment Monday of a large wildfire in the mountains north of Los Angeles after a weekend of wind-driven growth along Interstate 5.

The Post Fire was 8% surrounded after scorching more than 24 square miles and forcing the evacuation Saturday of at least 1,200 campers, off-roaders and hikers from the Hungry Valley recreation area.

“That 8% is good because it means we are increasing and bolstering our containment lines,” said Kenichi Haskett, a Los Angeles County Fire Department section chief.

Firefighters hoped to hold the fire at its current size, but further growth is possible, especially toward the south, Haskett said.

The fire broke out as weather turned hot and windy in a region where grasses spawned by a rainy winter have long since dried out and easily burn.

In Northern California, a wildfire sparked Sunday prompted evacuation orders and warnings for a sparsely populated area near Lake Sonoma. The Point Fire was 20% surrounded Monday after charring 2 square miles 80 miles north of San Francisco and destroying at least one structure.

2 still ‘critical’ in Michigan shooting: Two of the nine people wounded in a weekend shooting at a suburban Detroit splash pad remain hospitalized in critical condition Monday, including an 8-year-old boy who has “made amazing progress” despite being shot in the head.

The child’s 4-year-old brother was shot in the leg, and the boys’ mother was hit in the abdomen and leg during the random attack in Rochester Hills. It was one of at least four mass shootings in the U.S. on Saturday and early Sunday.

Michael Nash, 42, fired as many as 36 times Saturday, stopping several times to reload, police said. He subsequently went home to Shelby Township, where he killed himself.

Oakland County Sheriff Mike Bouchard said a motive could be hard to pin down. Nash had no connection to the victims or the splash pad, a popular way for people, especially kids, to play in fountains and water sprays.

“It appears he had been musing about different things, saying ‘Shut your phone off, we’re being watched, they are listening to us,’ ” the sheriff said, citing interviews with Nash’s mother.

No extra time in Bulger killing: The man accused of acting as lookout during the prison killing of notorious Boston gangster James “Whitey” Bulger won’t serve additional prison time after pleading guilty Monday to a charge of lying to federal agents.

Sean McKinnon, wearing shackles, was hugged by both of his attorneys after U.S. District Judge Thomas Kleeh agreed with prosecutors’ recommendation that he be given credit for serving 22 months in custody after his indictment.

McKinnon was accused along with two other inmates in the 2018 killing at a troubled West Virginia prison. Fotios “Freddy” Geas and Paul J. DeCologero are accused of repeatedly hitting Bulger in the head within hours of Bulger being transferred to the prison.

Plea deals for the three were disclosed May 13. Plea hearings and sentencings are set for Aug. 1 for DeCologero and Sept. 6 for Geas.

McKinnon could have faced up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

Shipwrecks off Italy: Sixty-four people were missing at sea Monday after a shipwreck off the southern coast of Italy, while 11 were rescued and taken ashore to a Calabrian town, United Nations’ agencies said.

The boat, which left Turkey eight days earlier, caught fire and overturned, the agencies said, citing survivors. Survivors and people missing at sea came from Iran, Syria and Iraq.

In a separate shipwreck, rescue workers found 10 bodies of suspected migrants trapped below the deck of a wooden boat off Italy’s tiny Lampedusa island, the German aid group Resqship wrote Monday on social media. The crew was able to evacuate 51 people from the flooded boat.