United States President Joe Biden is set to make his first presidential visit to Europe to speak with NATO allies and discuss the Russia-Ukraine war since the fighting began three weeks ago that has resulted in more than three million refugees.
The Democratic leader will join other leaders of the trans-Atlantic alliance for the Mar. 24 meeting that is designed to showcase NATO unity in fighting against Russia over its war on Ukraine. White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said that Biden will discuss topics such as deterrence and defense efforts and reaffirm America's ironclad commitment to NATO allies.
Visit to Europe
Biden praised the growing efforts of the U.S. in assisting Ukraine by confronting Russian President Vladimir Putin while he signed a stopgap spending bill that will prevent a government shutdown. The U.S. government allocated roughly $13.6 billion in aid to Ukraine and Eastern European allies with the help of the bill.
Joined by congressional leaders, Biden said that Putin's aggression against Ukraine had resulted in the unification of people throughout the U.S. He argued that the war has united Democrats and Republicans in Congress and united freedom-loving people worldwide, as per the New York Daily News.
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On Tuesday, the White House reported that the number of refugees displaced by the Russia-Ukraine war has surpassed three million as Moscow continues its airstrikes. Despite going on for nearly a month, Russia has yet to conquer any of Ukraine's 10 biggest cities. Local authorities in Kyiv said on Tuesday that bombardments in the region resulted in the death of at least five people as buildings were set on fire and others were buried under rubble.
The local council added that roughly 2,000 cars fled the southern port city of Mariupol, which has become the location of the worst humanitarian crisis in the region. The United Nations said that among the three million refugees, 1.8 million arrived in neighboring Poland. The country's prime minister and those of Slovenia and the Czech Republic traveled to Kyiv on Tuesday to show solidarity with Ukraine.
Russia-Ukraine War
According to Reuters, in a Twitter post, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said that the meeting on Mar. 24 will include discussions addressing Russia's invasion of Ukraine and NATO's support of the latter. Psaki said that Biden's attendance will seek to meet in person and assess with other leaders where the world is amid the conflict.
The situation comes as Putin announced "retaliatory sanctions" against President Biden, several top U.S. officials, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and Hunter Biden. Russian state-owned news agency Tass said that on Tuesday, the Russian Foreign Ministry imposed "personal sanctions against representatives of the U.S. leadership and persons associated with them."
The announcement said that starting Mar. 15, Biden and the other affected individuals will be placed on a Russian "stop list" on the "basis of reciprocity departments and well-known American figures. The other personnel included are Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, national security adviser Jake Sullivan, CIA Director William Burns, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley, White House press secretary Jen Psaki and several others, Fox News reported.
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