Biden and Scholz talk about Ukraine, as Russia launches "massive" attack

2024-10-19 09:40:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

Biden and Scholz talk about Ukraine, as Russia launches "massive"

US President Joe Biden met Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Berlin before holding joint talks on Ukraine with the leaders of Germany, France and Britain as Russia continued its attacks on Ukrainian cities and infrastructure. On October 18, Moscow carried out "one of the most massive" drone strikes against Ukraine.

Biden's visit to Germany comes a day after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky presented European Union leaders and top NATO officials with a series of measures he said would help his country end the occupation of 31 -monthly from Russia.

Biden called on Ukraine's allies to remain steadfast and support Kiev.

He praised Scholz for his support for Kiev, but also welcomed the spending of 2 percent of the Gross Domestic Product on defense, as required by NATO countries.

"America and Germany are the two biggest supporters of Ukraine in its struggle for survival as an independent and free state," Biden said.

Previously, Biden also met with his German counterpart, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who awarded him Germany's highest medal, the Order of Merit.

Biden, who arrived in Germany on Thursday evening, originally planned to visit the country last week for a four-day visit to also attend a meeting of the Ramstein group of about 50 allies of Ukraine to discuss and coordinate military assistance to Ukraine, which is waiting for a difficult winter.

But he canceled that visit to deal with the aftermath of Hurricane Milton in the US. US national security adviser Jake Sullivan has said that Biden aims to "make our commitment to Ukraine sustainable and institutionalized for the long term".

On October 17, Zelensky presented details of his "victory plan" to Ukraine's EU and NATO allies, seeking to persuade them to invite Ukraine to join the military alliance - a decision he said would soften Moscow's will to continue the war and force it to negotiate in good faith.

However, while it has stated that Ukraine will become a member one day, NATO has so far not given a clear deadline, while Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that Ukraine's intention to join the alliance was a of the reasons for its occupation.

NATO chief Mark Rutte, while reaffirming that NATO is working to bring Ukraine ever closer, did not support Zelensky's call to invite it to join the alliance.

"Ukraine will become a member of NATO, there is no doubt about that, and until that happens, we will make sure that Ukraine has everything it needs to win," Rutte said, adding that it is essential that NATO to continue providing military aid to Kiev.

Earlier, US Ambassador to NATO Julianne Smith told reporters that while Ukraine's path to NATO membership is irreversible, "we are not at the point where the alliance is considering sending an invitation too soon." .

Kiev has been scrambling to mobilize its Western allies as its overstretched and underarmed forces face a slow but steady advance of Russian troops in the east.

Additionally, the upcoming US presidential election raises concerns about how the two candidates, Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump, will handle the war in Ukraine.

Trump, who has repeatedly criticized Zelensky during his presidential campaign, on October 17 blamed the Ukrainian leader for allegedly helping to start the conflict, even though the war began when Russia launched an unprovoked invasion.

"It doesn't mean that I don't want to help him, because I feel bad for those people. But he should never have allowed that war to start," Trump said in a Patrick Bet-David podcast.

Meanwhile, in Ukraine, Russia launched one of the largest waves of drone strikes in the early hours of Friday, the head of Kiev's military administration, Serhiy Popko, reported.

"Russian troops carried out one of the most massive drone attacks against the civilian population and infrastructure of Ukraine. Enemy drones also threatened Kiev. But thanks to the coordinated work of the defense forces, all drones heading towards the capital were neutralized," he wrote Popko on Telegram.

No casualties were reported during the attack on Kiev, which lasted more than four and a half hours, Popko said.

Ukraine's air force said the strikes targeted Kiev, Cherkasy, Zhitomir, Vinitsia, Chernihiv, Sumy and Poltava regions. Ukraine's air defense shot down 80 of 135 drones launched by Russia, it said on Telegram./ Rel