WASHINGTON, USA
The future of Europe hanging in the balance, President Joe Biden will huddle with key allies in Brussels and Warsaw this week as the leaders try to prevent Russia’s war on Ukraine from spiraling into an even greater catastrophe.
Biden embarks Wednesday on a
four-day trip that will 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.
Jake Sullivan, Biden’s
national security adviser, said the president would coordinate with allies on
military assistance for Ukraine and new sanctions on Russia. He added that
Biden is working on long-term efforts to boost defenses in Eastern Europe,
where more countries fear Russian aggression. 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.”
Sullivan said Vladimir Putin’s
references to nuclear weapons at the beginning of the conflict are “something
that we do have to be concerned about,” 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 was another sign that the crisis is entering a new and 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 cease-fire or a path to ending the conflict, and the U.S. continues to rush weapons like anti-tank missiles to Ukrainian forces.
The war’s ripple effects are
also spreading. Biden warned that Russia
could be planning cyberattacks that would affect U.S. companies, and
he spoke to Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday to warn
him against backing Russia with military or financial assistance.
Meanwhile, a top State Department official visited India this week shortly
after that country decided to purchase
more Russian oil.
“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’ll 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.
“I think the meeting of all
heads of state and government in NATO will provide us with yet another platform
to demonstrate our unity, our support to Ukraine, but also our readiness to
protect and defend all NATO allies,” NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg told
NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday. “And by sending that message, we are
preventing an escalation of the conflict to a full-fledged war between NATO and
Russia.”
Biden will also participate in
meetings of the European Union and the Group of Seven, which includes the
world’s richest democracies.
He’ll then travel to Warsaw on
Friday to meet Polish officials to discuss the enormous humanitarian strain
caused by the Ukrainian refugee crisis. Biden 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 hoped that those
responsible for attacks on civilians would be brought before international
courts.
Polish leaders have pressed
for a Western peacekeeping mission to intervene in Ukraine, a step that the
U.S. and other Western allies worry could lead to a broadening of the war. The
Polish leadership also wants an increased military presence along NATO’s
eastern flank.
Sullivan said Biden’s trip to
Poland is an important opportunity to “meet with a frontline and very
vulnerable ally.” Poland is also host to a growing number of U.S. troops, and
Sullivan suggested Biden may visit them as well.
Last week, at NATO’s Brussels
headquarters, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and his counterparts weighed
what defenses to set up on the organization’s eastern flank, from Estonia in
the north through Latvia, Lithuania and Poland down to Bulgaria and Romania on
the Black Sea.
The aim is to deter Putin from
ordering an invasion of any of the 30 allies, not just for the duration of the
war in Ukraine but into the future.
Putin has demanded that NATO
withdraw its forces on its eastern flank and stop expanding.
Sullivan said that Biden,
during his talks in Europe, “will work with allies on longer-term adjustments
to NATO force posture.”
Biden’s visit to Poland
follows on Vice President Kamala Harris’ visit to Warsaw and Bucharest earlier
this month. While Harris was in Poland, Duda called on the Biden administration
to expedite visa procedures for Ukrainians who have family living in the United
States so that they could resettle in the U.S. at least temporarily. - AP
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