The Alliance Sets for the Long Haul
--
This morning President Joe Biden asked for $33 billion dollars to help Ukraine. The House also passed the Lend-Lease legislation that now goes to the President. Meaning weapons transfers are now going to happen at the speed of war.
It’s not just the United States. Let me turn my attention to Foreign Secretary Liz Truss and the United Kingdom. First here is the full transcript. It’s worth your time.
I will highlight a couple of sections that in my mind point to a new reality. One that the Federation is not happy with. Let’s just say Vladimir Putin miscalculated when he expected the Alliance to break apart.
It’s not.
We cannot be complacent — the fate of Ukraine hangs in the balance. But let’s be clear — if Putin succeeds there will be untold further misery across Europe and terrible consequences across the globe. We would never feel safe again.
So we must be prepared for the long haul. We’ve got to double down on our support for Ukraine. And we must also follow through on the unity shown in the crisis. We must reboot, recast and remodel our approach.
My vision is a world where free nations are assertive and in the ascendant. Where freedom and democracy are strengthened through a network of economic and security partnerships. Where aggressors are contained and forced to take a better path.
We are prepared to do this for the long haul. This reflects the language from the White House, indeed from Warsaw, and other Baltic capitals. They were the first to visit Kyiv since the war started on February 24.
The presidents of Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia have today visited Kyiv, where they met with Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky to express support for his country in its fight against Russian aggression.
Zelensky welcomed the decision by Andrzej Duda and his Baltic counterparts — Alar Karis, Egils Levits and Gitanas Nausėda — saying that such visits are “particularly important as a show of European support in our struggle for freedom”.
”Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia have always been the first to help Ukraine,” declared Zelensky at a joint press conference of the five presidents this evening following their meeting.
