“We must not slack off, we must not show fatigue,” said Biden in a speech to support Ukraine, which has been resisting the Russian invasion for the third year. “We must continue until Ukraine wins and achieves a just and sustainable peace,” he added.
According to him, the joint task of the USA and Germany is the defense of freedom and democracy, which is currently being fought for mainly in Ukraine.
Scholz said that thanks to Biden’s leadership, “Putin’s war has failed.” According to the chancellor, the Russian president miscalculated when he thought that it would be enough to wait long enough and the support of Kiev’s Western allies would cease. “Every member of the Alliance can count on us to defend every centimeter of the Alliance’s territory,” the Chancellor also said.
Keir Starmer, Joe Biden, Olaf Scholz and Emmanuel Macron
Biden, who will no longer defend the mandate in the November presidential elections in the USA, is in Germany on a farewell visit.
Before the political part of the White House chief’s program, there was a ceremonial part. German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier received him with military honors and awarded him Germany’s highest state award – the Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany. Among American presidents, only George Bush Sr., who was awarded in 1993 for his contributions to the reunification of Germany, received this honor.
Security measures during Biden’s visit to Germany
Steinmeier, who spoke English contrary to protocol customs, called Biden a “beacon of democracy” and thanked him for his “leading role” in supporting Ukraine. According to him, the war started by Moscow with the February 2022 invasion showed Russian President Vladimir Putin that the US and Europe will not allow themselves to be divided.
Steinmeier also highlighted the merits of the American president for the development of transatlantic relations and relations between the US and Germany. At the same time, he described the friendship between the two countries as existential. The United States and Germany are the two largest donors of military aid to Ukraine.