NATO leaders will meet in Brussels on March 24 in an “extraordinary” summit to discuss Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the alliance’s chief said on Tuesday, as the White House confirmed U.S. President Joe Biden would also attend.
“We will address Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, our strong support for Ukraine, and further strengthening NATO’s deterrence & defence. At this critical time, North America & Europe must continue to stand together,” NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg wrote on Twitter.
White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki confirmed Biden would attend the meeting at NATO headquarters.
“His goal is to meet in person face-to-face and talk about and assess where we are at this point in the conflict,” she told reporters at a news briefing. “We’ve been incredibly aligned to date. That doesn’t happen by accident.”
Asked if Biden would also visit in Poland, do something tied to Ukrainian refugees or meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Psaki declined to comment, saying trip details were still being worked out.
Zelenskyy separately has hinted at a possible compromise as peace talks continued with Russia, saying Ukraine was prepared to accept security guarantees that stop short of its long-term objective of membership of the NATO alliance, which Moscow opposes.
(Reporting by Marine Strauss in Brussels and Jarrett Renshaw in Washington; writing by Susan Heavey; Editing by Edmund Blair and Nick Macfie)