US President Joe Biden and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz reaffirmed their strong bilateral relationship and continued support for Ukraine on the 3rd (local time).
President Biden and Prime Minister Scholz had a summit meeting at the White House in Washington, DC, and discussed this, the White House said in a statement.
President Biden welcomed Prime Minister Scholz’s visit and reaffirmed the strong bilateral relationship between the United States and Germany.
The two leaders discussed the importance of maintaining global solidarity with the people of Ukraine and continuing efforts to provide security, economic, political and humanitarian assistance to Ukraine on the first anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the White House said.
The two leaders are said to have reiterated their promise to charge Russia for aggression as necessary.
The two leaders also exchanged views on other global issues, the White House said.
Earlier, President Biden said in his remarks at the meeting, “We cooperated to provide important security support to Ukraine.” revealed
President Biden expected the West to be divided after Russian President Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine, but emphasized that “as a North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO · NATO) alliance, we are making the alliance stronger and more capable.”
In particular, President Biden said that Germany’s support for Ukraine “has changed the world greatly” and that “Germany went out of its way to provide important military assistance, and beyond military aid, the moral support it gave to Ukraine was very profound.” Evaluated.
He said that Chancellor Scholz had been trying to increase Germany’s defense budget and move away from Russian energy, and that he “knows it won’t be easy”.
He said Germany had “helped Ukraine meet its basic needs like food, medical care and heat, and continues to put pressure on Putin. It is undermining his (Putin’s) ability to fight this war.” .
“This is a very important year because the peace is being threatened very dangerously by Russia’s aggression in Ukraine,” Scholz said. It’s really important to make it happen,” he said.
“At this point, I think it’s very important to send out the message that we are ready to stay with Ukraine for as long as necessary, no matter how long it takes,” he added.
Prime Minister Scholz, who had a meeting with President Biden at the White House in early February of last year, just before the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, said, “Thank you for the very good cooperation between the two countries, between the United States and Germany and Europe, and the transatlantic partnership is in very good shape today.” .
During the meeting, the two leaders reportedly focused on the issue of aid to Ukraine as Russia is expected to launch a massive offensive against Ukraine in the spring of this year.
In particular, it is expected that there will be discussions regarding fighter jet support to Ukraine.
White House National Security Council (NSC) Strategic Communications Coordinator John Kirby said in an interview with CNN that day, “Whether there will be discussions regarding fighter support to Ukraine at the meeting between President Biden and Prime Minister Scholz, it is the “core of the agenda of the discussion between the two leaders.” While not part of it, he left open the possibility that the two leaders would have extensive talks about what Ukraine will need to fight the tough battles this spring and summer.
It seems that the two countries also discussed the possibility of China’s aid to Russia and the subsequent response. Both the United States and the European Union (EU) have sent warning messages to China, disclosing that China may provide lethal weapons to Russia.
Along with this, it is predicted that the issue of discrimination in foreign electric vehicle subsidies under the US Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) was also discussed at this summit.
gayunlove@news1.kr
