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President Joe Biden pledged on Saturday that the United States will remain “firm” on Ukraine during a visit to France, focusing primarily on Russia’s incursion into the former Soviet republic.
Biden on Thursday attended commemorations marking the 80th anniversary of the June 6, 1944, Normandy landings that helped free Europe from Nazi occupation.
The 81-year-old Democratic president has repeatedly reiterated the value of the alliance with Europe and reiterated his government’s defense of its continued support for Ukraine, which has faced difficulties militarily more than two years since the beginning of the Russian invasion in February 2022.
“Putin is not going to stop in Ukraine … All of Europe will be threatened, and we are not going to let that happen,” Biden said after a bilateral meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris.
Biden is aiming for re-election in November against former Republican President Donald Trump, who defended more isolationist policies, while Macron faces an electoral test in this weekend’s European Parliament elections.
“Partner’s Loyalty”
Macron, 46, thanked Biden for acting “as president of a major world power” and “with the loyalty of a partner who loves and respects the Europeans.”
Trump has frequently criticized the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and in February said that if he won the November election he would “encourage” Russia to take any steps against members of the military treaty that fell behind on their payments, sparking concerns in the United States.
Biden’s state visit to France began on Saturday with a ceremony at the Arc de Triomphe with Macron, where they laid a wreath at the Monument to the Unknown Soldier and drove down the Champs-Elysees escorted by 140 horses and 38 motorcyclists.
Macron then met with Biden at the Elysee Palace for a working lunch and then a dinner.
The war in Ukraine was at the centre of the agenda, with the conflict also marked by commemorations of the D-Day landings, to which Putin was not invited, a reversal from 10 years ago.
Biden and Macron met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Paris on Friday and pledged continued support for Kyiv.
The US president “apologised” to Zelensky for the months of negotiations ahead of the complex passage of a $61 billion aid package for Ukraine through Congress.
Among other promises, Zelensky asked Paris to provide him with Mirage 2000-5 fighter jets (although the number was not disclosed) and to train Ukrainian pilots in France, with the goal of having them operational by the end of this year.
The Gaza war becomes a more thorny issue because the United States is Israel’s main ally and France has distanced itself from the way the Israeli military is waging an offensive against the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas.
In late May, French authorities banned Israeli weapons manufacturers from attending a defense trade fair near Paris.
After the Israeli army announced it had rescued four Israeli hostages from Gaza, Biden said his country would not stop working “until all the hostages return home and a ceasefire is achieved.”
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