US President Joe Biden on Thursday began a farewell visit to Germany and talks with European leaders on support for Ukraine’s war against Russia and the Middle East conflict.
During a flying 24-hour visit, just ahead of the US election, he will Friday meet German Chancellor Olaf Scholz ahead of four-way talks with Scholz, French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
The trip offers Biden a chance to reassure Western allies nervously watching the November 5 election for a potential return of Donald Trump, who has opposed the level of US support for Ukraine.
The four leaders are expected to discuss Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s “victory plan” against Russia as well as Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon.
While still on Air Force One, Biden hailed Israel’s killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar as a “good day”, saying it removed a key obstacle to a Gaza ceasefire and hostage deal.
Biden said he would “congratulate” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu but also “discuss the pathway” for securing the release of hostages and “ending this war once and for all”.
The White House said the trip would “further strengthen the close bond the United States and Germany share as allies and friends and coordinate on geopolitical priorities, including Ukraine’s defence against Russian aggression and events in the Middle East.”
– ‘Stand with Ukraine’ –
Now in his last months in office, 81-year-old Biden was due in Germany last week for a four-day state visit that would have included a major Ukraine defence meeting with Zelensky.
After cancelling that trip to coordinate the response to Hurricane Milton, Biden was at pains to make his valedictory Germany trip nonetheless, with a stripped-down programme squeezed into a one-day visit.
Biden also wanted to thank Scholz for facilitating a prisoner exchange deal with Russia this year that freed American reporter Evan Gershkovich, US officials said.
Biden was to start his visit with a meeting from 0800 GMT with President Frank-Walter Steinmeier who was to present him with Germany’s highest honour, the Grand Cross of the Order of Merit.
Steinmeier’s office said this was to recognise Biden’s “services to German-American friendship and the transatlantic alliance… in particular in the face of Russian aggression against Ukraine”.
Traditionally strong US-German relations soured during the Trump presidency, and Scholz told parliament Thursday that Biden had overseen “an incredible improvement in cooperation”.
Zelensky, on a trip to Brussels on Thursday, presented his “victory plan” to allies and told them that “Ukraine is ready for real diplomacy, but for it, we must be strong”.
Zelensky’s plan includes a request for an immediate invitation for Kyiv to join NATO and the lifting of restrictions by Western allies on using long-range weapons.
A senior US administration official told AFP ahead of Biden’s visit that there was “not consensus at this time” on a NATO invitation. But the official pointed to a summit of the alliance in July where member states had “affirmed that Ukraine is on an irreversible path to membership”.
Despite recent Russian battlefield gains, the US official said that “time is, in fact, on Ukraine’s side” and vowed that “we will stand with Ukraine and give it what it needs to prevail.”
The United States has been by far the biggest supplier of military aid to Ukraine since the 2022 Russian invasion, followed by Germany.
– Chance for Gaza ‘day after’ –
Biden’s meetings in Berlin were also expected to address the conflict pitting Israel against Hamas and its allies since October 7 last year, including the risk of a wider escalation with Iran.
Israel has widened the focus of its military operations to Lebanon, launching massive strikes on strongholds of Hamas’s ally Hezbollah and on September 30 sending in ground troops.
In recent days US officials have put pressure on Israel to address what Washington calls “the dire humanitarian situation” in the Gaza Strip, vast parts of which have been devastated by Israel’s assault.
Macron has gone even further, prompting the ire of Netanyahu by calling for a halt to arms supplies to Israel.
Aboard Air Force One, Biden said “there is now the opportunity for a ‘day after’ in Gaza without Hamas in power, and for a political settlement that provides a better future for Israelis and Palestinians alike.”
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