NATO is stronger, more energized and yes, more united than ever in its history. Indeed, more vital, US president Joe Biden said at the alliance’s summit in Lithuania denouncing his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin as “craven” while promising Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky full support even without membership in the group.
It didn’t happen by accident. It wasn’t inevitable,” Joe Biden said, adding, “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 our unity would shatter at the first testing. He thought democratic leaders would be weak. But he thought wrong.”
Joe Biden also said that Vladimir Putin badly underestimated NATO’s resolve.
Earlier, Zelensky criticized NATO for not offering a clear pathway for Ukraine to join the group, calling it “absurd.” “One thing Zelenskiy understands now is that whether or not he’s in NATO now is not relevant” as long as he has the new commitments that have been made at the summit, Joe Biden said after meeting the Ukrainian president.
He’s not concerned about that now,” the US president added.
“The idea that the United States could prosper without a secure Europe is not reasonable,” he said adding that the US and its allies wanted an end to war on just terms.
“We will not waver. We will not waver. I mean that. Our commitment to Ukraine will not weaken. We will stand for liberty and freedom today, tomorrow and for as long as it takes,” he asserted.
What Ukraine president Zelensky said?
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky hailed “small steps forward” at the NATO summit emphasizing the importance of receiving weaponry saying that talks about supplies of artillery were continuing.
The power of weapons always brings victory on the battlefield,” he said, welcoming new security guarantees pledged by G7, saying they were part of “Ukraine’s path to NATO.”
“We will never exchange any status for any of our territories. Even if it’s just one village with one elderly person, we will not give away our territories or exchange them for a frozen conflict,” Zelensky said.