Biden kicks off talks with Denmark, U.K. focusing on Ukraine war – National | 24CA News
President Joe Biden thanked Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen on Monday for Denmark‘s role in a Western alliance “standing up” for Ukraine as it tries to fend off Russia‘s 15-month-old invasion.
The Oval Office visit kicked off the first of a pair of critical meetings Biden is holding with European allies this week that will focus heavily on what lies ahead in the war in Ukraine —including the recently-launched effort to train, and eventually equip, Ukraine with American-made F-16s fighter jets. Biden on Thursday will meet with British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.
Both Britain and Denmark are playing a pivotal role in the nascent joint international plan that Biden recently endorsed after months of resisting calls from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for U.S. aircraft.
“There’s a shared dedication to the core values and that provides us our energy — at the very least that’s what I imagine,” Biden mentioned. “Together we’re working to protect those values — including standing up for the people of Ukraine against the brutal aggression of the Russians.”
Biden’s separate conferences with the leaders of two key NATO allies come at a vital interval within the 15-month conflict as Ukraine readies to launch a counteroffensive. It’s additionally a second when the U.S. and Europe need to reveal to Moscow that the Western-alliance stays robust and centered on cementing a longer-term dedication to Ukraine with no finish to the battle in sight.
Neither talked about the F-16 settlement of their temporary remarks earlier than reporters initially of the assembly, however White House officers mentioned that coordination on coaching Ukraine on fashionable plane could be a central a part of the talks.
Frederiksen for her half thanked Biden for main the transatlantic alliance.
“I am looking forward to working even closer with you on defense and security,” she mentioned.
Denmark has bought dozens of American-made F-16s for the reason that Nineteen Seventies and has indicated it’s open to the opportunity of offering Ukraine with some. Britain strongly advocated for a coalition to produce Ukraine with fighter planes, and says it’s going to help Ukraine getting the F-16s it needs. But the U.Ok. doesn’t have any F-16s, and has dominated out sending Royal Air Force Typhoon jets.
Instead, Britain says it’s going to give Ukrainian pilots fundamental coaching on Western-standard jets beginning in early summer season to arrange them to fly F-16s. The Ukrainian pilots will then go on to different international locations for the following phases of coaching.
The F-16 settlement is amongst a number of latest high-profile efforts by the U.S. and Europe centered on bolstering Western resolve because the conflict grinds on. Moscow officers claimed that Ukrainian forces have been making a significant effort to punch by way of Russian defensive strains in southeast Ukraine for a second day Monday. Kyiv authorities didn’t verify the assaults and advised the declare was a Russian misinformation ruse.
Asked by a reporter throughout his Oval Office assembly with Frederiksen whether or not he believed the Ukrainians would achieve success of their counteroffensive, Biden mentioned nothing however raised his hand and crossed his fingers.
Last week, Frederiksen and Sunak have been amongst 45 European leaders who traveled to Moldova for the primary summit of the European Political Community the place they underscored help for Eastern Europe’s ambitions to attract nearer to the West and hold Moscow at bay.
Biden was additionally anticipated to debate with Frederiksen and Rishi preparations for subsequent month’s NATO summit in Lithuania that comes amid rising stress on the alliance from Zelenskyy on NATO to supply Ukraine concrete safety ensures and an outlined path for Kyiv to finally win membership into the group.
The 31-member alliance can also be boosting Ukraine’s non-member standing in NATO and making ready a framework for safety commitments that it may possibly provide as soon as the conflict with Russia is over.
Max Bergmann, a former senior State Department official throughout the Obama administration, mentioned Biden and his European counterparts’ activity is to remain on the identical web page for what comes after Ukraine’s much-anticipated counteroffensive.
“Throughout this conflict, we have not only underestimated the Ukrainians but we have also underestimated the Europeans,” mentioned Bergmann, who’s now director of the Europe, Russia, and Eurasia Program on the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.. “They’re not wavering but they will also need to keep finding new funds to plow into military equipment to support the Ukrainians. There’s a question on both sides of the Atlantic: How much will it actually take to sustain Ukraine?”
Biden can also be anticipated to test in with Frederiksen and Rishi on his effort to press fellow NATO member Turkey to again off blocking Sweden from becoming a member of the navy alliance.
Sweden and Finland, each traditionally unaligned militarily, collectively sought NATO membership after being rattled by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Turkey initially blocked each international locations from becoming a member of the alliance earlier than agreeing to membership for Finland whereas persevering with to object to Sweden.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has objected to Sweden’s perceived help of the banned Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, the leftist extremist group DHKP-C, and followers of the U.S.-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, who Ankara claims was behind a failed navy coup try in 2016.
Erdogan gained reelection final week to a 3rd time period regardless of his authorities’s wrestle to cope with runaway inflation and the aftermath of an earthquake that leveled total cities within the nation. Now that his reelection battle is behind him, White House officers are more and more optimistic that the Turkish chief will withdraw his opposition to Sweden’s membership, in line with a U.S. official conversant in inner deliberations. The official was not licensed to remark publicly and spoke on the situation of anonymity.
Biden mentioned he raised Sweden’s NATO software and Turkey’s need to purchase 40 new F-16s from the U.S. — a transfer some in Congress oppose till Turkey approves NATO membership for Sweden — throughout a cellphone name final week with Erdogan.
Days later, at his graduation handle on the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado, Biden spoke with certainty about Sweden’s NATO membership hopes. “It will happen. I promise you,” Biden mentioned.
—Associated Press author Jill Lawless in London contributed to this report.
© 2023 The Canadian Press
