Joe Biden blasted Donald Trump as he issued a warning to Russian dictator Vladimir Putin on Wednesday, telling him to pull out of Ukraine and abandon his ‘bad bet’ that the U.S. would end its support for the war-torn country.
The president, in yet another fiery speech in defense of Kyiv, claimed he had been ‘rebuilding’ ties with European allies after Trump’s spell in the White House and insisted that Putin ‘cannot be allowed to seize his neighbor’s territory by force.’
‘Russia could end this war tomorrow by withdrawing his forces from Ukraine’ and ‘ceasing his inhumane attacks on women and children’, the 80-year-old said.
Biden received a rapturous applause from the Lithuanian crowd in the country’s capital, Vlinius
Locals waved American and Ukrainian flags as they waited for the president to speak
‘Unfortunately, Russia has shown thus far no interest in the diplomatic outcome. Putin still wrongly believes that he can outlast Ukraine. He can’t believe it’s their land, their country and their future and even after all this time, Putin still doubts our staying power. He is still making a bad bet.
‘When Russian bombs began to fall, we did not hesitate to act. We rallied the world support the brave people of Ukraine as they defend their liberty and their sovereignty.’
‘When Putin, and his craven lust for land and power, unleashed his brutal war on Ukraine, he was betting NATO would break apart. He thought NATO would break. He thought our unity would shatter at the first testing. He thought democratic leaders would be weak. But he thought wrong.’
Biden also made a barely-veiled attack on Donald Trump’s foreign policy, blasting his predecessor for undermining U.S. ties with Europe.
The former president once mulled pulling out of NATO, arguing that taxpayers in America were shouldering too much of the burden, and withdraw nearly 10,000 troops from U.S. bases in Germany.
‘I’ve been so focused as president on rebuilding and revitalizing alliances, the cornerstone of American leadership in these past years, Biden said.
His administration had been stressed the importance of the relationship between Europe and the United States as an anchor to global stability.
And in blunt remarks clearly aimed at the real estate mogul and his Republican supporters, Biden said: ‘The idea that the United States could prosper without a secure Europe is not reasonable. That really is not a joke.’
The commander-in-chief made a veiled dig at his predecessor Donald Trump, hitting out at him for undermining Washington’s ties with its European allies
Biden made his speech at Vilnius University, the oldest college in the Baltic nation that was once occupied by both the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany.
Lithuania eventually broke away from the Soviet Union and restored its independence in 1990, joining NATO in 2004.
The speech had echoes of Biden’s rallying cries in support of the military alliance in Warsaw earlier this year.
The United States spends more on defense than any other country because it is the world’s largest economy worth just over $23 trillion.
It currently splashes out 3.1 percent of its gross domestic product, a key measure of economic activity, or roughly $816 billion on boosting its military might.
But the Biden administration said in March this year that it would increase that figure with Congress eventually signing off on a $856 billion defense budget for 2024.
The second largest NATO spender is Britain, which shells out 3.5 percent of its GDP on defense that equates to just over $72 billion.
It is why Biden’s National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak had been urging all of the 31 NATO members to spend at least 2 percent and honor a long-standing pledge agreed in Wales in 2014.
Poland has promised to ramp up its own figure to 4% of GDP with its whole economy worth just over $688 billion this year.
Biden’s remarks came at the end of a two-day visit to the Lithuanian capital for a key NATO summit that was overshadowed by a row over when Kyiv can join the mutual defense club.
The U.S. had traded barbs with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky over what he called the ‘absurd’ delay to laying out a timeline for his country to sign up.
But Washington is concerned that the West could get dragged into a full-scale war ‘ with Russia and is only offering ‘long-term commitments’ to protect Ukraine from future attacks.
Lawmakers in the U.S. have earmarked a grand total of $113 billion thus far to help Kyiv’s armed forces boot out the Russian invaders.
Just over $46 billion has already been dispersed and spent on military aid for the Ukrainian military, official data shows.
Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky struck a more conciliatory tone on Wednesday after launching a series of social media barbs over what he called an ‘absurd’ delay to Kyiv’s NATO bid
Zelensky struck a more conciliatory tone on Wednesday in his face-to-face talks with Biden in the Lithuanian capital.
The two leaders offered a sharp contrast as they sat side by side, Biden in a traditional business suit and Zelensky in his trademark military green T-shirt and trousers.
Biden said he understood the Ukrainian leader’s frustration at getting the help he needs quickly enough.
‘I promise you the United States is doing everything we can to get you what you need,’ Biden said in the presence of reporters.
‘I look forward to the day when we’re having the meeting celebrating your official, official membership in NATO,’ he said.
Speaking to reporters later on Wednesday, Zelensky warned that he would not accept a ‘frozen conflict’ with Russia.
‘We want to recover our lands, restore security on our territory,’ Zelensky said. ‘That’s victory… A frozen conflict is not a victory.’
G7 leaders instead offered a security deal, brokered by Biden, that pledged to boost Ukraine’s air, sea and land defenses.
But it stopped short of the ‘attack on one is an attack on all’ doctrine that is the hallmark of NATO that Biden called ‘a sacred oath’ earlier on Wednesday.
That mutual defense clause has only been triggered once in the organization’s history – by the United States after Al Qaeda’s attacks on 9/11 in 2001.
George W. Bush’s administration evoked Article 5 of the NATO treaty to launch the U.S.-led of Afghanistan.
Finland, which has been non-aligned for decades, is the latest country to sign up with Sweden set to become the 32nd nation to gain membership.
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