Biden's Europe trip to focus on NATO boost

Alliance meeting comes at critical point as fierce fighting reported on battlefield

WASHINGTON — US President Joe Biden will head to Europe in a week on a three-nation trip, including a NATO summit, focused on reinforcing the Western coalition backing Ukraine as the conflict with Russia extends well into its second year.

The main focus of Biden's five-day visit will be the annual NATO summit, held this year in Vilnius, Lithuania. Also planned are stops in Helsinki, Finland, to commemorate the Nordic country's entry into the 31-nation military alliance in April, and the United Kingdom, the White House announced on Sunday.

Biden will begin his trip on Sunday in London, where he will meet with King Charles III. In June, Biden hosted British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak at the White House, where the two leaders pledged more support for Ukraine.

Jens Stoltenberg, NATO's secretary-general, visited the White House on June 13, where he and Biden made it clear the Western alliance was united in supporting Ukraine.

Finland joined NATO in April and the move effectively doubled Russia's border with the world's biggest security alliance. Russia has long complained about NATO's expansion eastward.

Sweden is also seeking entry into NATO, although alliance members Turkiye and Hungary have yet to endorse the move. Biden will host Sweden's prime minister, Ulf Kristersson, at the White House on Wednesday to discuss Stockholm's NATO ambitions.

Turkiye's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said Sweden is too lax on "terrorist groups and security threats". He denounced Stockholm last week for allowing a protest during which a man burned pages from the Quran.

All nations in the alliance have to ratify the entry of a new member country.

The NATO meeting comes at the latest critical point on the battlefield. Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky says counteroffensive and defensive actions against Russian forces are underway.

Zelensky said on Saturday he wanted his country to receive an "invitation" at the Vilnius summit to join NATO once the conflict with Moscow is over.

Key goal

The Kremlin has said preventing Ukraine from joining NATO is still a key goal of its military operation, arguing that Kyiv's membership in the alliance would pose an existential threat to Moscow.

In the latest developments, Ukraine said on Sunday that Russian troops were advancing in four areas in the east of the country amid "fierce fighting" but reported its forces were moving forward in the south.

Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar said that Russian troops were advancing near Avdiivka, Mariinka, Lyman and Svatove. Kyiv has urged Western allies to escalate pledges of military support.

The latest developments came after Ukrainian officials said Russia launched its first overnight drone attack on Kyiv in 12 days. Ukraine said all the drones were downed.

A Russian military official said on Monday there is no need for further mobilization in Russia to replace Wagner troops who have left the battlefield in Ukraine.

"There is no threat at all regarding a drop in the combat potential, both in the midterm and long-term perspective," Andrey Kartapolov, head of the State Duma Defense Committee, was quoted as saying by the state-backed TASS news agency.

In developments related to the grain deal, Russia's envoy to the United Nations in Geneva said there are currently no grounds to maintain the "status quo" of a deal that grants safe passage for Ukrainian grain to be exported via the Black Sea.

Western capitals were blocking progress on reconnecting the Russian Agricultural Bank to the SWIFT banking system, Gennady Gatilov told the state-backed Izvestia newspaper.

"What we are seeing now does not give us grounds to agree to maintain the status quo" on the deal, he said in the interview, published early on Monday.

The deal, allowing grain from Ukraine to reach the global market, was renewed again in May but for only two months, until July 17.

Agencies via Xinhua