Ahead of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) summit that will decide Ukraine’s membership in Lithuania, US President Joe Biden began his three-nation tour by landing in the United Kingdom, where he will meet British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and King Charles III. Will meet
As the AP reports, Biden is scheduled to meet Sunak at 10 Downing Street, where they will focus on Ukraine as the upcoming NATO meeting discusses how many doors the alliance should open to Kiev. Ukraine’s bid for NATO membership has been a source of tension, especially with Russia, and has been a precursor to the start of a war between Moscow and Kiev.
America and Britain are among the most staunch supporters of Ukraine. However, a recent US decision to send cluster munitions to Kiev as military aid has been met with uneasiness by US allies including Britain, Canada and New Zealand.
President Volodymyr Zelensky’s repeated appeals to include Ukraine in NATO have led to the reluctance of the US and Germany on welcoming a country at war with ‘incomplete democratic reforms’, according to ANI.
The US President will also meet King Charles at Windsor Castle, their first since Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral last year. Biden attended the late queen’s funeral but did not attend Charles’ coronation in May, instead sending his wife, Jill Biden. Their talks will focus on environmental issues.
Biden’s next stop and the main focus of his trip is the NATO summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, where he will also discuss Sweden’s membership in the alliance. Hungary and Turkey are two countries that have objected to Sweden’s inclusion in NATO.
The summit is likely to be used by the US to pressure Turkey into reversing its stance on Sweden’s NATO membership bid, after Ankara accused Stockholm of being too lenient towards groups it called a ‘security threat’ Will go
After the summit, Biden’s final stop will be in Finland to meet with Nordic leaders to commemorate joining NATO in April. The joining of Finland has doubled the length of the Russian border with NATO member states.
500 days of Russia-Ukraine war
As the Russian-Ukrainian war enters its 500th day, there is little prospect of an end to the conflict between Moscow and Kiev. Most recently, eight people were killed in another Russian shelling in Ukraine’s Donetsk region on Saturday.
Numerous missile attacks and intense fighting have resulted in the deaths of many civilians on both sides, as well as large-scale civilian casualties.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky thanked his troops on the completion of 500 days of war with Russia during a visit to Snake Island. He said, “I want to thank each and every soldier of ours for these 500 days, from here, from this place of victory.”
Zelensky previously said that Ukrainian forces were making steady, but slow, gains in their counteroffensive against Russian troops. According to the Ukrainian General Staff, they are conducting an offensive near the remaining part of the eastern city of Bakhmut – apparently controlled by Russian forces.
(with inputs from agencies)
Read this also | Russia-Ukraine war: US to send controversial weapon ‘cluster bomb’ to Kiev
Read this also | Russia-Ukraine war nears 500 days: A brief timeline of the conflict