Joe Biden to travel to Brussels for NATO summit next week
March 15, 2022, 6:57 pm

Joe Biden to travel to Brussels for NATO summit next week

US president Joe Biden/Official Facebook page

The USA Today reported, the White House said on Tuesday that President Joe Biden will travel to Brussels for a March 24 NATO summit on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Also Tuesday, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said, Ukrainians must realize that the country will not be joining NATO and must "count on ourselves and our partners who are helping us" to withstand the Russian onslaught.

Zelenskyy, speaking to representatives of the U.K.-led Joint Expeditionary Force, said Ukraine has heard for years about "the allegedly open doors” of NATO but acknowledged his country will not be able to join. Instead, his nation needs separate security guarantees from its allies.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg in Washington, United States (File photo: Nato Facebook page)

Zelenskyy had been a strong supporter of Ukraine's efforts to join NATO. Russian President Vladimir Putin, however, has called for a guarantee that Ukraine would never join NATO among terms for an end to the war.

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Still, Zelenskyy has repeatedly called for NATO to set up a no-fly zone above Ukraine to ease aerial assault from Russian that have decimated Ukraine cities since the invasion began Feb. 24. And he said Tuesday that Europe could “help yourself by helping us” with more military aid. He said that the Ukrainian military is using up weapons and ammunition meant to last a week in 20 hours.

Source: usatoday

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Upon arriving to participate in the summit of the European Political Community, which includes around forty heads of state in Budapest, he said, "I look forward to sitting with the elected U.S. president and seeing how we will collectively ensure we meet challenges, including the threats from Russia and North Korea." He also noted that the strengthening of ties between Russia and North Korea poses a threat to the United States as well, according to reports from Agence France-Presse.

Before Trump's victory, Rutte expressed confidence that a united Washington would remain part of the defensive alliance, even if Trump became the 47th president of the United States. In an interview with German public broadcaster ZDF last Monday night, he stated that both Republicans and Democrats understand that NATO serves not only the security of Europe but also that of America. He added that both candidates are aware that the security of the United States is closely tied to NATO.

On Wednesday, NATO congratulated Trump on his victory but did not address the Ukrainian issue.

It is noteworthy that the relationship between the elected U.S. president and the defense alliance was not the best during his first term in the White House. Trump criticized NATO member states multiple times and even hinted at withdrawing from the alliance unless they increased their financial contributions.

Additionally, the issue of the Russian-Ukrainian war is one of the matters that complicate relations between the two sides, especially since Trump has repeatedly stated that he can end this ongoing conflict, which began in 2022, quickly. He implied that he had a peace plan between Kyiv and Moscow, while his vice president, JD Vance, revealed aspects of that plan, which stipulated Ukraine's commitment not to join NATO, thereby sending reassuring signals to the Russians.

Furthermore, many NATO member states in Europe fear that Trump might halt military aid to Ukraine after he previously criticized the U.S. for pouring funds into supporting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.