VILNIUS, Lithuania — President Joe Biden promised Ukraine that its Western partners would not back down in its defense in a speech Wednesday after two days of high-level meetings with leaders at a NATO summit.
Speaking to an agitated crowd on a glittering Wednesday night, Biden vowed that “the defense of liberty is not the work of a day or a year. It is the call of our life, of all time”.
“We are prepared for the fight that lies ahead,” added the president. Of Ukraine’s partners, he said: “Our unity will not waver, I promise you.”
The event here proved to be a test of Biden’s promise as he took office to repair America’s international relations, which include NATO, the 31-nation mutual defense pact forged after World War II. The main item on the agenda was Russia’s war in Ukraine, which has been raging on NATO’s doorstep for nearly 18 months.
Lines built steadily in the hours before Biden took the stage at Vilnius University, winding through narrow cobbled streets.
“We will not falter. I mean that,” Biden continued. “Our commitment to Ukraine will not weaken. We will defend freedom today, tomorrow and for as long as it takes.”
The president said the world was at a crossroads, with freedom depending on America’s global alliances.
“We are faced with a choice, a choice between a world defined by coercion and exploitation, where power does what is right, or a world in which we recognize that our own success is tied to the success of others: when others they are doing better, we are doing better too. Biden said.
Biden added: “The idea that the United States could prosper without a secure Europe is unreasonable.”
A White House official who anticipated Biden’s comments on Wednesday promised a speech that would highlight “the strength of the NATO alliance and how it continues to be a force for global security and stability.”
“The president will speak about how widespread support for Ukraine reflects the value of our alliances and partnerships, which he has reinvigorated since he took office,” said Amanda Sloat, Europe director at the National Security Council.
Biden would champion NATO’s “vital” role, a hard-won result “that didn’t happen by accident,” Sloat said.
