“We will defend every inch of NATO’s soil,” US President Joe Biden said in his assessment meeting after the NATO Leaders Summit. We will be stronger than we have ever been.”
Here are the lines from Biden’s speech;
Before the war started, I told Putin that if the invasion of Ukraine happens, NATO will become stronger, and that’s exactly what we saw, and today this summit was about strengthening our alliance.
The last time NATO put forward a new mission was 20 years ago. Russia was a partner then. China was not even mentioned, but now the world has changed. NATO is changing in the same way. At this summit, we rallied our allies and expressed the threat Russia poses to Europe.
DEFENSE BUDGETS ARE GROWING
Their allies are increasing their defense budgets. Take Germany as an example. It has announced a $100 billion fund for its military.
Once again we emphasized our commitment to Article 5. We will protect every inch of NATO territory. We are increasing the number of forces in Europe. We will establish a new headquarters in Poland to strengthen our eastern flank. A new military force will also be established in Romania.
WE WILL ANNOUNCE ANOTHER 800 MILLION DOLLARS IN SUPPORT
Things are changing and we are adapting to new developments. The US is rallying the world behind Ukraine. The US is leading the way on Ukraine. We will announce another 800 million dollars of support in the coming days.
For the first time, our partners in the Indo-Pacific region attended the meeting. As I told Putin, his actions will have a worldwide consequence. We are bringing democratic countries together. We are doing this to preserve international order. This includes threats from China.
WE WILL DEFEND EVERY INCH OF NATO SOIL
We will defend every inch of NATO soil. We also said at the G7 that together we will fight China’s oppressive trade activities. We are considering a floor price for Russian oil. We will provide support for the reconstruction of Ukraine. Putin tried to weaken us, but he got exactly what he wanted. Think about it. This was the plan he had in mind. Now NATO and Sweden are closer than ever. We will be stronger than ever.
Q&A:
DID YOU GIVE A COMMITMENT TO ERDOGAN?
I told him what I told him in December. It’s not in our interest not to do this. I conveyed to them that our position has not changed. The F-16s should be sold, but that requires a decision by Congress.
RUSSIA IS PAYING A HIGH PRICE
We will support Ukraine as much as we need to support Ukraine. Look at Russia, they have defaulted. They lost 15 years of earnings. They are struggling technologically because of the export restrictions I imposed. Maybe they will not be able to continue oil production, they are dependent on US technology. They are paying a huge price. Just today the Snake Island was taken back by Ukraine. We will stand by Ukraine so that Russia cannot defeat them.
Ukraine has already done serious damage to Russia. The US is looking at them. They say, you tried to take Kiev, you failed, you tried to take Donbas, you have not succeeded yet. We are providing capacity to Ukraine and their courage is very important. So I don’t know how it will end, but it will not end with Russia defeating Ukraine.
After dancing around the issue for years, NATO made clear in its updated mission statement that Russia now poses the “most significant threat to Allied security.” And it mentioned China for the first time, saying the budding partnership between Moscow and Beijing “runs counter to our values.”
Taken together, the accomplishments amount to a foundational shift for the alliance, which has struggled for years to determine the best way to approach Russia. President Vladimir Putin, fearing the eastward expansion of the alliance, now faces a far more united collective.
“He wanted less NATO,” Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said this week. “Now President Putin is getting more NATO on his borders.”
Even an expanded and more muscular NATO, however, may not be enough to quickly bring fighting to an end in Ukraine.
While the buzzword of this week’s summit in Europe was “unity,” there remain private disagreements among leaders about the next phase of the war. While some are pushing for a decisive battlefield victory, others believe more robust attempts at brokering a settlement must be made, particularly amid economic fallout at home.
“The consensus is that the war in Ukraine will go on for an extended period of time,” US director of national intelligence Avril Haines told a conference Wednesday, offering a bleak assessment in the near-term of what has become a grinding conflict.
Haines said Putin likely believes time is on Russia’s side because he believes the West will eventually tire of supporting Ukraine. “None of this bodes well for a peaceful resolution,” she said, acknowledging that the US assessment of the situation is “grim.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky urged NATO leaders to help him regain the initiative during an address to the summit Wednesday, pleading for more modern artillery and sustained support to battle the Russians.
“The war should not drag on. To break the advantage of Russian artillery, we need a lot more of these modern systems, modern artillery,” Zelensky said.
