With the future of Europe hanging in the balance, US President Joe Biden is this week meeting with key allies in Brussels and Warsaw as the leaders try to prevent Russia’s war on Ukraine from spiraling into an even greater catastrophe.
Biden embarked yesterday on a four-day trip that is to test his ability to navigate the continent’s worst crisis since World War II. There are fears that Russia could use chemical or nuclear weapons as its invasion becomes bogged down in the face of logistical problems and fierce Ukrainian resistance.
Humanitarian challenges are growing as well. Millions of refugees have fled the fighting, mostly by crossing the border into Poland, and the war has jeopardized Ukraine’s wheat and barley harvests, raising the possibility of rising hunger in impoverished areas around the globe.
Photo: EPA-EFE
US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said that Biden would coordinate with allies on military assistance for Ukraine and new sanctions on Russia.
Biden is working on long-term efforts to boost defenses in Eastern Europe, where more countries fear Russian aggression, he added.
The president is also aiming to reduce the continent’s reliance on Russian energy.
“This war will not end easily or rapidly,” Sullivan told reporters at a White House briefing on Tuesday. “For the past few months, the West has been united. The president is traveling to Europe to make sure we stay united.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s references to nuclear weapons at the beginning of the conflict are “something that we do have to be concerned about,” Sullivan said, adding that Biden would be talking with allies about “potential responses” if the Russian leader takes that step.
Sullivan’s description of Biden’s trip is another sign that the crisis is entering a new, uncertain phase.
After the initial invasion failed to topple Ukraine’s government, the war has become a grinding endeavor for Putin, who is relying on airstrikes and artillery that are devastating civilian communities. Negotiations between Ukraine and Russia have not produced a ceasefire or a path to ending the conflict, and the US continues to rush weapons such as anti-tank missiles to Ukrainian forces.
“This is one of those decisive moments for an American leader that defines their legacy internationally,” said Timothy Naftali, a presidential historian at New York University.
Biden’s first stop is Brussels, where he is to attend back-to-back-to-back meetings.
NATO is holding a hastily arranged emergency summit, where Biden is expected to reiterate his support for Article 5 of the alliance’s charter, which commits all members to collective defense if any are attacked.
Biden is also to participate in meetings of the EU and the G7, which includes the world’s richest democracies.
He is then to travel to Warsaw tomorrow to meet Polish officials to discuss the enormous humanitarian strain caused by the Ukrainian refugee crisis. He is scheduled to meet with Polish President Andrzej Duda on Saturday.
Duda, whose country suffered a brutal Nazi occupation during World War II, compared Russian actions in Ukraine to Adolf Hitler’s infamous SS forces.
Visiting Bulgaria on Tuesday, Duda said Putin’s army “is behaving in exactly the same way.”
He said he hopes that those responsible for attacks on civilians will be brought before international courts.
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