Biden heads to UK ahead of NATO summit that will test unity
- Biden will meet with King Charles III and UK Prime Minister Rushi Sunak
- The annual NATO summit will take place later this week
- The Biden administration is backing Sweden's membership
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(NewsNation) — President Joe Biden flew to London on Sunday where he’ll discuss the environment with King Charles III and meet with U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak regarding the war in Ukraine.
The conversation with Sunak is a precursor for more intense talks later this week, when NATO leaders convene in Lithuania for their annual summit.
First and foremost on the NATO agenda: strengthening the alliance in the face of the Russian invasion and deciding whether to approve Sweden’s bid to join the pact.
The Biden administration is backing Sweden’s membership but Turkey and Hungary have pushed back.
When it comes to Ukraine joining the alliance, Biden says that’s a much harder pill to swallow.
The president said he doesn’t think Ukraine is ready for membership in NATO during a CNN interview that aired Sunday.
“I don’t think there’s unanimity in NATO about whether or not to bring Ukraine into the NATO family now,” Biden said.
If Ukraine were to join, it would mean the whole NATO alliance, per its own rules, would be obligated to join the war against Russia.
“I think it’s premature to say — to call for a vote … there’s other qualifications that need to be met, including democratization and some of those issues,” the president told CNN.
In the meantime, Biden has continued to provide military aid in the form of financial assistance and weapons to the country. But some of those weapons have also drawn criticism.
The Biden administration recently agreed to send cluster bombs to Ukraine, despite the fact more than 100 nations have banned them for their ability to attack indiscriminately.
The decision was welcomed by some American lawmakers but criticized by others.
“I have some real qualms about it, there’s an international prohibition,” Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) said on Fox News Sunday. “The U.S. says ‘but here’s a good reason to do something different,’ it could give a green light to other nations to do something different as well.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has continuously pushed to join NATO and has said it would send a message the alliance isn’t afraid of Russia.
