Biden to meet Finnish leader after NATO summit

Helsinki – US President Joe Biden will meet the leader of newest NATO member Finland on Thursday, after G7 powers vowed to back Ukraine for as long as it takes to defeat Russia.

Biden will meet with Sauli Niinisto, the president of the Nordic country, which shares a 1,300 kilometres (800-mile) border with Russia and which ended its historic military non-alignment following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The trip comes after NATO leaders dashed Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky’s hopes for a clear timeline to join the military alliance, saying they would offer an invite only when “conditions are met”. 

G7 nations later offered Ukraine a package of long-term security commitments and vowed to stand with Kyiv for “as long as it takes” to defeat Russia.

Besides Niinisto and the Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo, Biden will meet Sweden’s Ulf Kristersson, Norway’s Jonas Gahr Store, Denmark’s Mette Frederiksen and Iceland’s Katrin Jakobsdottir.

The topic of the discussions is cooperation between the Nordic countries and the United States on security, environmental and technology issues.

Biden will be the first US president to visit Helsinki since Donald Trump’s summit five years ago with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Ukraine said early Thursday it had destroyed 20 Russian attack drones and two cruise missiles in the latest aerial assault on the country. 

Most of the drones were destroyed around Kyiv, whose mayor said one person was found dead and at least four people were wounded.

Russia has launched waves of drone and missile strikes across Ukraine since the February 2022 invasion. 

Ukraine has bolstered its air defence systems with Western-supplied weapons and the number of Russian missiles and drones breaking through has diminished.

But the spokesman for Ukraine’s air forces, Yuriy Ignat, recently said that newly supplied systems were still insufficient to cover the whole country.

“We do not have means to destroy ballistic missiles,” Ignat told national television on Thursday morning.

Ukraine’s air force said it still seeking information on the “consequences” of an Iskander-M ballistic missile launch by Russia from occupied Crimea.

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In their statement Wednesday, G7 powers embraced the “strategic objective of a free, independent, democratic, and sovereign Ukraine, within its internationally recognised borders”.

The G7 plan provides a framework under which individual nations will agree bilateral deals with Kyiv detailing the weapons they will give and their response if Russia ups the ante.

“We will not waver,” Biden said in a speech in Vilnius aimed at showing resolve after meeting Zelensky at the NATO summit. 

“Putin still doubts our staying power. He’s still making a bad bet that the conviction and the unity among the United States and our allies and partners will break down.”

Zelensky insisted that the promises from the Western leaders amounted to a “significant security victory” that he could take home to Kyiv.

But he did not disguise the fact that he would have preferred NATO to have agreed a firm timetable for Ukraine to join the alliance once the Russian invasion has been defeated and peace restored.

On the sidelines of the NATO summit, Australia pledged to send an additional fleet of 30 armoured Bushmaster infantry vehicles at a cost of US$67 million.

But on Thursday, Australia’s defence minister cast doubt over a proposal to bolster Ukraine’s military with retired fighter jets, saying Kyiv’s request for extra air power posed a “complicated question”.