The announcements expected during the two-day summit will strengthen the team’s defenses as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine enters its fifth month. Since the Cold War, NATO has not made such significant improvements in its position.
Biden and his fellow leaders are eager to change momentum in Ukraine, where Russia continues to succeed in the East.
A rocket attack on a shopping mall in the Ukrainian city of Kremenchuk on Monday was a reminder of Russia’s ongoing brutality.
“Russia’s attack on civilians in a shopping center is brutal. We stand in solidarity with the Ukrainian people,” Biden wrote on Twitter. “As demonstrated at the G7 summit, the United States, along with our allies and partners, will continue to hold Russia accountable for such atrocities and support Ukraine’s defense.
Biden arrives at the NATO summit after the last meetings with G7 leaders in Germany, where the crisis in Ukraine dominated talks between the leaders. The meeting was expected to result in agreements on sanctions and an attempt to limit the price of Russian oil.
Biden met on Tuesday morning with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, French President Emmanuel Macron and the British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on the outskirts of the G-7 in the German region of Bavaria. The group played the most important role in organizing the West’s response to the war in Ukraine, although there are differences of opinion on how and when to engage Russian President Vladimir Putin in talks to end the war.
New messages on food security
G7 leaders announced up to $ 5 billion in funding for global food security on Tuesday in recent efforts to counter the global effects of the war in Ukraine, more than half of which will come from the United States.
As part of Tuesday’s announcement, the Biden administration committed $ 2.76 billion “to support efforts in more than 47 countries and regional organizations,” including $ 2 billion for direct humanitarian aid and $ 760 million “for sustainable, short- and medium-term food aid. help to help improve the resilience and productivity of food systems around the world, especially in vulnerable regions, “a senior administration official told reporters on Tuesday.
The White House estimates that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the subsequent destruction of agricultural equipment and the blocking of grain supplies will push up to 40 million people into poverty in 2022. The Biden administration has tried a number of braking measures to move grain and prevent “catastrophic food shortages” in parts of the world.
“Obviously, Putin’s actions were the basis and the thing from which you can draw a direct line to all the vulnerabilities we see in the world in terms of food security – his actions suffocated food and agricultural production, using food as a weapon of war,” he said. the employee. “This is just one part of our efforts, and we are committed to doing everything we can, both as the United States and as the G-7, to work with partners around the world to cope.
The US commitment will come from the second package of additional aid for Ukraine, adopted by lawmakers last month, and is expected to be distributed and provided by the end of the fiscal year. According to the official, the leaders also discussed a “variety of approaches” to bringing grain from Ukraine to market and tackling global shortages, adding that the issue was “at the top of the list of priorities that leaders have in addressing the food challenge. security “
Tuesday’s announcement comes on the last day of the G7 summit in Schloss Ellmau, Germany, where leaders are also expected to condemn the damage caused by China’s “opaque market-distorting industrial practices” in a communiqué surrounding the summit.
The crucial NATO summit begins on Tuesday
The president will travel to Madrid in the afternoon. Leaders attending the NATO summit are expected to approve a new “Strategic Concept” that outlines the defense alliance’s goals for the next decade. These priorities include “building resilience to transnational threats, including cyber and climate threats” and “deepening partnerships with democratic partners in Europe and Asia to strengthen rule-based international order,” the White House said.
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said on Monday that the alliance would increase the number of troops on high alert to 300,000, a sevenfold increase reflecting the heavy war in Ukraine.
Stoltenberg said Russia has withdrawn from any partnership with NATO and the group must respond.
“They chose confrontation instead of dialogue. We regret that – but, of course, then we have to react to this reality,” he said.
Biden will meet on Tuesday with President Pedro Sanchez of Spain and His Majesty King Felipe VI of Spain, according to a schedule provided by the White House. Biden and Sanchez are expected to hold a bilateral meeting to discuss coordination in support of Ukraine, as well as tackling the global climate crisis, improving global health security and promoting economic prosperity in Latin America, the Caribbean and Africa.
President and First Lady Jill Biden will then attend a dinner on Tuesday night for leaders attending the NATO summit, which will be hosted by King Felipe VI and Her Majesty Queen Letizia of Spain.
Challenges at home and abroad
The summit comes as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine extends to its fifth month and as the United States seeks to keep its allies united in support of Ukraine and maintain pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin.
But it also comes as leaders face the threat of a global recession and the Biden administration struggles with rising inflation and high prices and interest rates at home. Growing economic concerns have raised questions about whether a unified Western response to Ukraine’s conflict can be sustained in the long run as the war continues.
The assessment of the war by the United States increasingly provides for a long and punitive battle in eastern Ukraine, which will lead to heavy personnel losses on both sides. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told G7 leaders during a virtual meeting on Monday that he wanted the war in Ukraine to end by the end of 2022, according to a source familiar with his remarks. US and European officials are also awaiting the summit for potential progress in advancing Finland’s and Sweden’s NATO bids. The two nations formally applied for part of the security alliance in May, sparked by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. But Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said he will not support the candidacies, accusing the two countries of hiding members of the separatist armed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, also known as the PKK, which Turkey sees as a terrorist organization.
Erdogan told reporters on Tuesday that he had spoken to Biden and could meet with the US president in Madrid. Sweden’s and Finland’s requests to join NATO will come first, Erdogan said.
“The PKK will be on our agenda at my bilateral meetings. We will explain our position to Sweden and Finland once again. The PKK must be prevented from operating in these countries,” he said, adding: “If they want to become members of NATO, they have to deal with Turkey’s security concerns. We do not want dry words, we want results. “
US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters during the G7 summit that the goal before the NATO summit in Madrid was “to create as much positive momentum as possible behind the candidacies of Finland and Sweden.” although he warned: “I’m not sitting here today and assumes that all issues will be resolved by Madrid.”
The United States is also preparing to announce the purchase of an advanced medium-range and long-range surface-to-air missile defense system, which the Ukrainian president has requested. The announcement could come as early as this week and comes in addition to several military aid packages the United States provided after Russia invaded Ukraine in February.
The United States will unveil other new sanctions, including against Russian defense companies and individuals. The leaders agreed to ban the import of new Russian gold, the country’s second-largest export after energy.
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