President Joe Biden on Wednesday led a group of more than 30 countries expressing support for Ukraine as President Volodymyr Zelensky tries to convince the world of his peace plan and keep his country in the spotlight.
The leaders surrounded Biden and Zelensky on stage for a group photo at the start of the event, in a visual sign of support, on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly meeting in New York.
There were a few minor glitches: Biden welcomed the leaders to Washington (they are in New York) and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni gave her speech via Zoom but forgot to turn on her microphone at the beginning.
Biden said the leaders had come together “to make clear that we stand with Ukraine now and in the future. That starts on the battlefield.”
He said he would announce more military commitments on Thursday when Zelensky visits the White House. He plans to provide more than $8 billion in military aid to Ukraine, Reuters reported.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky shakes hands with US President Joe Biden
But Biden also argued that support for Ukraine doesn’t stop at weapons. The new plan includes helping Kiev regain financial stability, rebuild infrastructure, boost the energy sector and strengthen anti-corruption efforts.
“Ukraine’s future victory is about more than what happens on the battlefield,” Biden noted.
“Today we show Ukrainians that you are not alone in the fight. You are not alone in the reconstruction that will come after,” he said.
Zelensky compared the aid to the Marshall Plan, which helped Europe rebuild after World War II, calling it “a plan that will ensure a peaceful Ukraine and all of Europe.”
“Thank you, all my friends,” he said.
Earlier in the day, Zelensky had called on the United Nations in a speech to the General Assembly on Wednesday to commemorate his war-torn country.
He is in New York to convince leaders of his “victory plan,” which includes strengthening Western security guarantees for Ukraine, increasing military aid and securing further financial support.
He has not yet released all the details, nor was he expected to do so ahead of his meeting with President Joe Biden.
US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield has reportedly been briefed on the plan and said it “could work” but it is unclear how.
Biden will hold an event on Wednesday to mobilize world leaders for what he calls Ukrainian recovery and reconstruction.
Before that event, Zelensky tried to personalize the issue for member states in his address to the General Assembly, noting that Russian troops were still occupying one of Ukraine’s nuclear power plants. He warned that a nuclear disaster “would not respect state borders.”
“I recently received another alarming report from our intelligence service. Now Putin seems to be planning attacks on our nuclear power plants and infrastructure, with the aim of disconnecting them from the electricity grid,” Zelensky said from the high podium of the United Nations main hall. “Any missile or drone attack or critical incident in the energy system could lead to a nuclear disaster. Such a day must never come again.”
He made the comments after Russian President Vladimir Putin said his country should be able to use nuclear weapons if it were attacked by a state backed by a nuclear power.
“The proposal is to consider aggression against Russia by a non-nuclear state, but with the participation or support of a nuclear state, as a joint attack on the Russian Federation,” Putin said at a meeting in the Kremlin.
US President Joe Biden (2nd (R) poses with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen (2nd from left), Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky (C) and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer (R) at an event in support of Ukraine
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, US President Joe Biden and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer at a meeting in support of Ukraine
The Ukrainian army continues to lose ground to Russian forces in eastern Ukraine, with Russian troops now occupying more than 18% of the territory there.
Zelensky has been pushing for permission to fire more Western-made weapons into Russia’s heartland, a move that Western leaders fear Putin will see as a Western attack and expand his war.
He is also struggling to hold the world’s attention as war in the Middle East spreads. Israel has stepped up its attacks on Lebanon over its targeting of Hezbollah members. Zelensky now heads to Washington, where he will hold separate meetings with Biden and Kamala Harris at the White House on Thursday.