Biden signed US$ 13.6 billion aid package bill for Ukraine 5:06
(CNN)
President Joe Biden and other world leaders hope to finalize and unveil a package of new measures to punish Russia, help Ukraine and demonstrate Western unity at a series of emergency summits in Europe this week.
But short of a dramatic show of wartime resolve, few observers believe anything leaders can agree on will be enough to end the bloodshed in Ukraine or dissuade Russian President Vladimir Putin from continuing. with their attacks that increasingly harm civilians.
Since the prospect of a NATO leaders' summit was first broached about two weeks ago, US and European officials have been discussing possible announcements for the leaders to make at the end of the meeting, according to several people familiar with the plans. .
That could include new rounds of sanctions against Russian oligarchs, additional measures tightening the country's finances, and further steps to limit the import of Russian energy products. Also under discussion is what measures can be revealed to provide more support to Ukraine, including new shipments of military assistance or financial aid to strengthen the country's defenses.
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And Biden has left open the option of expanding US troop deployments to NATO members along the alliance's eastern edge, bolstering US commitment to European defense at a critical time.
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But the stark reality that such moves are unlikely to stop Putin's war will hang over Biden's visit to Brussels for a snap meeting of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, along with a special session of the European Council and a meeting of the G7.
Biden could also add another stop in Eastern Europe, potentially Poland, officials said.
He leaves Washington on Wednesday for high-level diplomatic exercises.
While Biden has managed to rally European and Asian allies behind a set of punitive sanctions and unprecedented levels of military assistance, he and his NATO counterparts have drawn limits on where their support will end.
And while all sides appear to support a diplomatic solution to the crisis, US and European officials say the parameters of such a deal remain murky.
That leaves open how Biden's visit to Europe, one of the turning points of his presidency, could alter the course of the worst conflict in Europe since World War II.
And it raises another point of contention that world leaders need to start addressing: What happens if, or when, Ukraine can no longer withstand Russia's attack?
“They will have to see what happens if Ukraine is lost,” said retired Army General Wesley Clark, a former NATO Supreme Allied Commander.
“After weighing the problem of what happens if Ukraine falls, they have to consider what else can be done to keep Ukraine in the fight.
Yes, there is a risk.
There is always a risk in dealing with Mr Putin."
Biden challenged to be "the leader of the world"
Biden was publicly challenged by Ukraine's leader last week to take responsibility for ending the fighting.
In an emotional speech to Congress calling for a no-fly zone and help purchasing fighter jets, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky spoke directly to Biden, who was watching from his private library on the third floor of the White House.
"Being the leader of the world means being the leader of peace," Zelensky said in English.
Biden was also challenged by former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko to visit Ukraine as a "symbol of our solidarity" during his trip to Europe this week.
Speaking to CNN's Jim Acosta on Saturday afternoon, Poroshenko called Biden a "very good friend of mine and a very good friend of Ukraine," adding that a Biden visit would be "an extremely correct step to show that the whole world stands with us against Russia.
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Those personal appeals will have resonated with a man who promised to restore American leadership, renew American alliances and defend democracy from the rising tide of authoritarianism as he sought office.
Nowhere will that challenge be more pertinent than in this week's emergency talks, where leaders look to Biden for direction and purpose as the war in Ukraine rages on.
“He is challenging Biden to fulfill his responsibilities as leader of the West, leader of the democratic community of nations.
And he presented the de facto challenge to NATO,” said Ian Brzezinski, deputy assistant secretary of defense for Europe and NATO in the George W. Bush administration.
"I was saying that if NATO is not up to this challenge, we have to think about other security arrangements," Brzezinski said.
"What a powerful challenge to NATO's relevance in this day and age. That sets the context for ... (the) summit meeting."
The limits of supporting Ukraine in sight before the trip
However, when the summits were announced last week, some European diplomats raised concerns about what they saw as a lack of major steps available for leaders to take at the high-profile meeting, which both Russia and Ukraine will closely watch.
The main elements that Ukraine wants, such as NATO help establishing a no-fly zone or providing Soviet-era fighter jets, seem off the table for now as the United States and its partners seek to avoid a direct confrontation. with Russia.
That means any announcements coming out of the meetings are likely to focus more on increasing the assistance already being provided, including military and financial aid, or applying new sanctions on Russia.
European and US officials said discussions on the announcements and a final joint statement were ongoing as the countries seek to reach a decision or starting point for the summit.
Ukraine asked for military help.
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“The president looks forward to seeing his counterparts face to face.
I suspect they will have a number of new measures that they can reveal and deploy during those talks, but I'm not going to preempt them a few days in advance," US Deputy National Security Adviser Jon Finer said last week on CNN.
Having a major announcement materialize during the summit could help underscore the ongoing unity between the allies, which US officials say has surprised Putin as his military struggles with losses on the ground.
"He miscalculated about the West. I think he thought that... there would be some scolding, maybe a couple of sanctions, but he was able to bear it, and he was able to continue, and he was able to continue," said Marie Yovanovitch, the former US ambassador to Ukraine. .
"Instead, it has inspired a resurgence of NATO. And the West is united in opposition and trying to provide not only a kind of strengthening of NATO and the flanking countries on Ukraine's border, but also to provide support to Ukraine. ".
Countering China will be top of mind after Biden-Xi call
The upcoming summits will also give Biden a chance to take his counterparts' temperature on another issue: what to do if Chinese President Xi Jinping decides to provide military or economic support to Russia, as Putin has requested.
In a 110-minute call with Xi last week, Biden laid out the "implications and consequences" of going ahead with such support, according to the White House.
But punishing China, the world's second-largest economy, would be much more complicated than it has been with Russia and would require the same unity with Europe, which has not always agreed with Biden on how to approach Beijing.
"This is an incredibly important summit. It's being held in an extraordinary way in the middle of a crisis. It's partly to make sure that we and our allies [are] on the same page, which is good. But it's also very important to send a signal to Vladimir Putin," said Kurt Volker, former US ambassador to NATO and special envoy to Ukraine.
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Volker identified several messages the alliance must send during their summit, including recommitting to the Article 5 guarantee of collective defense and making it clear that Russia's use of nuclear weapons would justify a Western response.
But he said NATO must also make it clear that Ukraine, which is not a member of its group, is nonetheless a matter of critical importance to its members.
"I think it is very important that NATO also sends a signal about Ukraine, that Ukraine's survival as an independent and sovereign state in Europe is in NATO's interest," Volker said.
"We don't want to say what we don't do. We don't want to be too specific about what we will do. But we need to send a signal to Putin that we are not going to sit by while he destroys and eliminates a sovereign European country."
War in Ukraine Russian invasion of Ukraine
