Washington, Europe Brief News- The US President Joe Biden has travelled to Europe to attend NATO meeting as Ukraine-Russia war escalates.
Biden is scheduled to attend a last-minute emergency meeting of NATO leaders in Brussels. The meeting will discuss the response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
While in Brussels, he also plans to attend a meeting of Group of Seven leaders and a European Council gathering. He is then scheduled to travel to Poland. He has found itself on the front lines of the military and refugee crisis.
High Profile Meeting
The trip will provide a high-profile leadership moment on the world stage for Biden in one of the worst periods of European conflict since World War II. But it will also come with pressure to respond to calls to do more for Ukraine from Democrats and Republicans at home, European allies and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
“It will feel very flat if there is this giant meeting of NATO, the most powerful alliance in the world. The only outcome from it is a statement of solidarity. That will not look like a strong move,” said Michael McFaul, U.S. ambassador to Russia under the Obama administration. “That will be demoralizing for Zelenskyy and uplifting for Putin.”
McFaul said he is also looking for the NATO and European Union countries to come together at the summit on new sanctions against Russian oligarchs and top officials, to provide additional military equipment to Ukraine and to ratchet up economic moves, like an oil embargo.
“If we want to put more pressure on this economy, there is lots more we can do,” McFaul said. “I would hope of a meeting of so many people there would be something like that.”
White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said there would be an announcement about additional sanctions and sanction enforcement efforts in the coming days, after the U.S. has met with its allies.
He said Biden will also discuss at the meetings Thursday what the long-term troop presence in Europe should look like.
