Russia-Ukraine war: Biden to travel to Europe to discuss Putin’s aggression with other NATO leaders
US President Joe Biden will make his first visit to Europe since the Russian invasion of Ukraine to discuss the crisis with other NATO leaders next week, the White House said on Tuesday (March 15, 2022).
Biden will travel to Brussels, Belgium and will join an ‘extraordinary NATO summit’ on March 24 to discuss ongoing deterrence and defense efforts in response to Russia’s ‘unprovoked and unjustified’ attack on Ukraine, the White House said in a statement.
He will also join a scheduled European Council Summit to discuss US’ shared concerns about Ukraine, including transatlantic efforts to impose economic costs on Russia, provide humanitarian support to those affected by the violence, and address other challenges related to the conflict.
The significant development comes amid over 3 million having now fled Ukraine, according to the United Nations, with over 1.8 million arriving in neighbouring Poland.
President Vladimir Putin calls Russia’s actions a ‘special military operation’ to demilitarise and ‘denazify’ Ukraine. Moscow, however, has not been able to captur any of the 10 biggest cities in the country following its incursion that began on February 24, the largest assault on a European state since 1945.
Meanwhile, talks between Russia and Ukraine via a video link resumed on Tuesday with the Ukrainian officials playing up hopes the war could end sooner than expected and saying that Moscow may be coming to terms with its failure to impose a new government by force.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said it was too early to predict progress in the talks.
“The work is difficult, and in the current situation the very fact that (the talks) are continuing is probably positive,” he said.