DOVER AIR FORCE BASE, Delaware — US President Joe Biden departed on Sunday on a three-nation journey that might be dominated by a NATO summit in Lithuania aimed toward displaying solidarity with Ukraine in its battle in opposition to Russia whereas not but accepting Kyiv as a member of the alliance.
Biden’s first cease might be in London, the place he’ll meet British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak at 10 Downing Street on Monday after which journey to Windsor Castle for a go to with King Charles III.
The talks with the king, anticipated to incorporate local weather initiatives, will give Biden a larger sense of the person who succeeded his mom, Queen Elizabeth II, who died final September.
Biden had tea with the queen at Windsor in June 2021 and so they mentioned most of the similar points that stay a prime precedence at present, like Russia and China.
Biden will journey on to Vilnius, Lithuania, on Monday evening and maintain talks with NATO leaders there on Tuesday and Wednesday. Biden and the allies goal to point out assist for Ukraine and provides Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy a way of what he must do to achieve NATO membership in some unspecified time in the future sooner or later. In a CNN interview previewing his journey, Biden urged warning for now on Ukraine’s drive to affix NATO, saying the alliance may get drawn into the conflict with Russia resulting from NATO’s mutual protection pact.
“I don’t think there is unanimity in NATO about whether or not to bring Ukraine into the NATO family now, at this moment, in the middle of a war,” Biden stated.
A centerpiece of Biden’s go to to Lithuania might be a speech that he’ll ship at Vilnius University on Wednesday evening.
White House nationwide safety adviser Jake Sullivan informed reporters the speech will cowl Biden’s imaginative and prescient of “a strong, confident America flanked by strong, confident allies and partners taking on the significant challenges of our time, from Russia’s aggression in Ukraine to the climate crisis.”
One of Biden’s targets on the journey is to point out Americans again house the significance of constant assist for Ukraine as he faces re-election. Some of his Republican rivals within the race for the November 2024 presidential elections have voiced doubts about his technique.
Solid majorities of Americans assist offering weaponry to Ukraine to defend itself in opposition to Russia and imagine that such support demonstrates to China and different US rivals a will to guard US pursuits and allies, in keeping with a Reuters/Ipsos survey late final month.
Biden’s final cease might be in Helsinki for talks with the leaders of the latest NATO member, Finland, and to attend a summit of US and Nordic leaders. — Reuters
Source: www.gmanetwork.com
