Berlin – Today, Friday, US President Joe Biden will meet with a number of European leaders in Berlin during his last visit as President of the United States, during which he will seek in particular to push for a ceasefire in Gaza after Israel announced the killing of the head of the Palestinian faction movement, Yahya Sinwar.
Biden will hold a private meeting with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, followed by a four-way meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, devoted to the issues of the Middle East and Ukraine.
Israel’s announcement – on Thursday evening – of the killing of Sinwar in a military confrontation in the Gaza Strip constitutes a turning point in the war that Israel has been waging against the Gaza Strip since October 7, 2023.
Upon his arrival in the German capital, Biden stated that he called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and “congratulated” him on the killing of Sinwar. He also announced that he would soon send his Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken, to Israel, expressing his hope that a ceasefire would be reached in Gaza.
He said it is time for this war to end and for the Israeli prisoners detained in Gaza to return.
The issue of Western support for Ukraine will be the second topic of this brief one-day visit to one of the main partners of the United States, the day after President Volodymyr Zelensky presented his “Victory Plan” to the European Union and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
Two and a half years after the start of the Russian war on Ukraine, Kiev is experiencing great difficulties on the eastern front and is being subjected to continuous and bloody bombardment, targeting especially vital infrastructure.
Western mobilization is expected to weaken as public opinion grows weary and another major conflict erupts in the Middle East.
Germany, the second largest arms supplier to Kiev after the United States, has halved its allocation to Ukraine for 2025 to 4 billion euros.
“It is important that we evaluate all possibilities for a just and lasting peace for Ukraine,” Schulz said in Brussels.
None of the demands put forward by Zelensky in the “Victory Plan” have so far received unanimous support from allies, but US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan stressed that what Biden is trying to do is “make our commitment to Ukraine sustainable.”
For his part, French President Emmanuel Macron confirmed Thursday evening in Brussels that the issue of security guarantees for Ukraine will be discussed at the meeting of Western leaders in Berlin. He added that he supports a request from Kyiv to invite Ukraine to participate in NATO summits.
Source: Al Jazeera + French
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