Biden calls in Berlin to maintain support for Ukraine in the face of “a very difficult winter”

The president of the United States, Joe Biden, asked Ukraine’s allies this Friday to maintain their determination and support kyiv in what he anticipated as a harsh winter, during an official visit to Germany, in which he was honored with a high distinction. national.

Together with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Berlin, Biden highlighted that Germany has increased its defense spending to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) goal of 2% of gross domestic product. He also said that he would speak with Scholz about Iran, currently in war tensions with Israel.

“We must maintain our support for Ukraine,” said the US president in Berlin, during what is considered his farewell visit to Germany, before leaving office next January.

Biden will hand over the US Presidency to whoever wins in the November elections between the Democratic candidate and her Vice President Kamala Harris and the Republican candidate, former President Donald Trump.

Alliances in the face of a “very difficult” winter

As Ukraine faces a third winter of war and battlefield losses in the east, kyiv and its allies fear that a possible return of Trump to the White House will mean a reduction in US military support for that cause.

Biden insisted that Western allies must maintain their support “until Ukraine achieves a just and sustainable peace.”

“We are heading into a very difficult winter. “We can’t give up.”

Recalling the “wide span of history” he has seen in his 81 years, Biden declared that “we must never underestimate the power of democracy, we must never underestimate the value of alliances.”

Biden then met with Chancellor Olaf Scholz, before holding four-way talks with French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

On Thursday, President Volodymyr Zelensky presented his “victory plan” to the European Union and NATO, but his allies did not accept his request for immediate membership in NATO.

Honors and concerns

Biden received the Federal Cross of Merit, the country’s highest honor, which was also awarded to former President George HW Bush for his support of German reunification.

The president of Germany, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, highlighted that Biden’s interest in his country dates back more than four decades, and noted that friendship with Washington is “and will always be existentially important” for Berlin, but there have always been “moments of proximity and greater distance.”

“Even recently, just a few years ago, the distance had grown so much that we almost lost each other,” Steinmeier said, alluding to the strained relations between the two nations during the Trump presidency. Biden, the German president said, “recovered Europe’s hope in the transatlantic alliance literally overnight.”

“In the coming months, I hope Europeans remember that the United States is indispensable to us,” he added. “And I hope Americans remember that your allies are indispensable to you. We are more than just ‘other countries’ in the world: we are partners, we are friends.”

[Con información de Reuters, AP y AFP]

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