Biden, Macron Condemn Putin, Vow To Stand With Ukraine

U.S. President Joe Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday presented a united front at a White House meeting, vowing to stand with Ukraine as long as it takes until Russia ends its war, TURAN's Washington correspondent reports from the White House.

The two leaders used their joint press conference to reiterate their condemnation of the Kremlin's war in Ukraine.

“I knew Russia was [brutal], but I didn’t anticipate them being as brutal as they have been,” Biden said, accusing Russia of waging a war that “has once more shattered peace on the continent of Europe," as he put it.

Macron echoed these remarks, adding Russia's war means “we need to become brothers in arms once more.”

Biden also used the joint conference to take shots at Vladimir Putin: “The idea that Putin is ever going to defeat Ukraine is beyond comprehension... Imagine them trying to occupy that country for the next two, five, 10, 20 years, if they could. If they could. He’s miscalculated every single thing he initially calculated,” Biden said.

“It’s sick what [Putin] is doing,” he later added. Though he said he had “no plans” to meet with Putin, Biden did not close the door entirely, acknowledging that he is open to a conversation “if in fact there is an interest in him deciding he’s looking for a way to end the war.”

“If that’s the case, in consultation with my French and my NATO friends, I’ll be happy to sit down with Putin to see what he wants, has in mind,” Biden said. In the meantime, the U.S. and its allies “must support the Ukrainian people,” as he added immediately.

Biden was hosting Macron for the French leader’s first official state visit since he took office. The news conference followed a lengthy bilateral meeting between the leaders, where they said they'd discussed a range of issues, primarily Ukraine.

“We will never urge the Ukrainians to make a compromise which will not be acceptable for them,” Macron said, adding that “if we want a sustainable peace, we have to respect the Ukrainians to decide the moment and the conditions in which they will negotiate about their territory and their future.”

In their joint statement, the two leaders reiterated their steadfast resolve to hold Russia to account for widely documented atrocities and war crimes, committed both by its regular armed forces and by its proxies, including mercenary entities such as Vagner and others.

Alex Raufoglu

Washington D.C.