Biden met with Ukraine’s defense and foreign ministers after Zelensky’s top aide demanded more “bravery” from NATO allies
- Biden received an update on Ukraine on Saturday when he attended a meeting with Ukraine’s foreign and defense ministers in Warsaw.
- The meeting took place as Russia announced that it had completed the first “phase” of its invasion.
- This has raised the possibility that Moscow has resigned itself to its failure to achieve its goals after abandoning tanks and troops to try to encircle key Ukrainian cities.
President Joe Biden received an update on the startling developments in Ukraine on Saturday when he attended a meeting with Ukraine’s foreign and defense minister as Moscow reassesses its military objectives.
Biden was joined by Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, hours after a top aide to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky demanded more “bravery” from NATO allies arming Ukraine.
‘ [NATO] Alliance makes decisions like it’s there [were] no war,” Andriy Yermak said in an interview with the Atlantic Council.
In Warsaw, Biden met with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba and Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov, hours after the Kremlin announced the end of the first “phase” of its invasion of Ukraine.
This raised the possibility that Moscow was resigned to its failure to achieve its goals after abandoning tanks and troops to try to encircle key Ukrainian cities.
Now Russia says it will focus its attention on the Donbass.
President Joe Biden attends a meeting with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba (second from left) and Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov in Warsaw.
Zelensky aide Andriy Yermak asked for more “courage” from NATO allies
Biden and the Ukrainians chatted for a bit while the reporters were in the room talking about travel and sleep.
Biden shared his own experience: “You’re looking at a guy who has driven over a million 200,000 miles.”
“I have learned to sleep,” he said.
The president, as a senator, traveled daily between his home in Wilmington and Washington, D.C. via Amtrak. Also as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and vice president, Biden traveled extensively abroad.
Biden spent about 30 minutes in a meeting that was not originally on his schedule before heading off to meet Polish President Andrzej Duda.
Biden last met with Kuleba on February 22 in Washington, two days before Russian President Vladimir Putin launched his brutal invasion.
Ukraine is the main topic of Biden’s meetings in Poland
The Russians claim that their invasion has passed the first stage.
“The main tasks of the first stage of the operation have been completed,” Sergey Rudskoy, head of the Russian General Staff, said on Friday.
“The combat capabilities of the Armed Forces of Ukraine have been significantly reduced, which allows us to focus our main efforts on achieving the main goal: the liberation of Donbass,” he added, referring to the territory captured by Russia in 2014, which is mainly controlled by pro-Moscow separatists.