US President Joe Biden arrived in the UK on Sunday night as part of his European tour before attending the NATO summit in Lithuania. The president, who landed at Stansted airport, will meet this Monday with King Charles III and the British Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, who this weekend made explicit his discrepancies with the US decision to send cluster bombs to Ukraine.
Sunak told reporters on Saturday that his country “discourages” the use of such ammunition as one of the 123 signatory states to the convention that bans them. However, the two leaders have maintained great harmony in the importance of arming the Ukrainian troops after the Russian invasion, so it is expected that the meeting will serve to coordinate positions before the next NATO summit in Vilnius, in the who will participate this week.
After meeting Sunak, Biden will visit Charles III at Windsor Castle for tea together and discuss the climate crisis and efforts to combat it. A meeting that took place after the monarchist press criticized Biden for her absence at the Coronation ceremony of Carlos III in May, which was attended by his wife and one of the daughters of his he.
Biden will travel to Lithuania on Monday night, where he will hold talks with NATO leaders. On Wednesday, Biden and NATO allies aim to show their support for Ukraine. The United States believes that it is too early to negotiate a possible entry of Ukraine into NATO, although it does advocate that the organization’s summit to be held this week in Vilnius serves as a start to chart a path.
“The Allied countries will have the opportunity to speak in Vilnius about where we go from here with respect to the reforms that are required” so that Ukraine’s entry into NATO can be considered, the Security adviser said in a conversation with the media this Sunday. National, Jake Sullivan.
Aboard the presidential plane bound for London, where US President Joe Biden begins his trip to Europe, Sullivan confirmed that the United States will not advocate Ukraine’s immediate entry into NATO at the summit to be held in Lithuania on the 11th. and 12.
In an interview done by CNN last Friday and aired today, President Biden asserted that Ukraine is not yet ready for NATO membership and that Russia’s war in Ukraine must end before the alliance can consider adding Kiev.
“I don’t think there is unanimity in NATO on whether or not to include Ukraine in the NATO family now, at this time, in the middle of a war,” the president said. Thus, Biden advocated “designing a rational path so that Ukraine can qualify to enter NATO.”
In the conversation with the media, Sullivan explained that the NATO countries are currently “working on a statement on language regarding Ukraine’s desire to seek NATO membership.” “I think we’ll see the allies come to a consensus on that as we head into Vilnius,” she wrote.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg acknowledged on Friday that the 31 allies are still working on the drafting of the summit declaration, as there is a division of opinion among the countries on the issue of Ukraine’s entry into the Alliance. . The idea is to build on the language that was used at the 2008 Bucharest summit, when the allies said both Ukraine and Georgia would become NATO members, but failed to set a timetable for it, according to allied sources.
Stoltenberg affirmed that the heads of State and Government participating in the summit will agree on various measures to “bring Ukraine closer” to the Atlantic Alliance, but confirmed that they will not propose its entry.
NATO, as an organization, does not supply weapons to Ukraine but it does supply medical equipment, fuel, pontoon bridges, demining equipment or support for the security and defense sector, for which 500 million euros have already been agreed.
