President Joe Biden vowed on Thursday that the United States will continue to supply Ukraine with the financial and military aid it needs until the war with Russia is won – even if it means continued economic hardship.
The president pledged that the Russian invasion of Ukraine would not end with a “Russian defeat of Ukraine” during a press conference held at the end of the NATO summit in Madrid, Spain. The president used his remarks to rally NATO and European nations behind his promise to back Ukraine whatever the cost.
“Putin thought he could break the transatlantic alliance,” Biden theorized during his comments to reporters.
“He tried to weaken us. He expected our resolve to fracture. But he’s getting exactly what he did not want. He wanted the Finland-ization of NATO. He got the NATO-ization of Finland.”
British Prime Minister Made Similar Promise
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson urged world leaders to stick to their guns and maintain long-term support for Ukraine during a recent G7 summit in southern Germany.
Johnson said that the consequences of a Russian victory in Ukraine would be “absolutely catastrophic” and that he believes assisting Ukraine in this effort is necessary.
“I would just say to people in the United States that this is something that America historically does and has to do,” the British PM said.
Johnson used several interviews and television appearances to stress the importance of maintaining long-term support in Ukraine – and with British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss indicating that the war could last as long as 10 years, that’s no small thing.
NATO Isn’t Actually Unified
NATO is not entirely unified on the matter, however.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has worked to facilitate negotiations between Russia and Ukraine since the early days of the invasion and personally discussed the matter with the Russian president on several occasions since the outbreak of the war.
In May, Erdogan told Putin that Ankara was ready to assume a role in an “observation mechanism” between the United Nations, Kyiv, and Moscow if an agreement can be reached between the two countries.
Erdogan has repeatedly pushed for peace between the two nations and worked to find a diplomatic solution to the war. Journalist Michael Tracey revealed on Thursday how the Turkish president believes his approach to solving the crisis is superior because “the proof is in the pudding.” The exchange took place during a question-and-answer session with journalists in Madrid.
“Believe it or not, Erdogan just called on me and answered my question. I noted he’s one of the few or only NATO leaders calling for diplomacy in Ukraine, whereas US/UK are calling for military escalation. He said his approach is superior because ‘the proof is in the pudding,’” Tracey wrote on Twitter.
Erdogan’s views on the war may diverge from the consensus among NATO, but his voice is by far one of the most influential when it comes to negotiations with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Jack Buckby is a British author, counter-extremism researcher, and journalist based in New York. Reporting on the U.K., Europe, and the U.S., he works to analyze and understand left-wing and right-wing radicalization, and reports on Western governments’ approaches to the pressing issues of today. His books and research papers explore these themes and propose pragmatic solutions to our increasingly polarized society.
