End of NATO summit haunted by Joe Biden’s age

The summit marking NATO’s 75th anniversary ended in Washington on Thursday with new commitments to Ukraine, but without managing to make people forget the age of its guest of honor, Joe Biden.

For nearly three days, the leaders of the 32 countries of the Atlantic Alliance have multiplied the pledges of support for Ukraine in its war against Russia. “A great success,” the American president, 81, congratulated himself on Thursday evening during a particularly anticipated press conference.

Alas, just minutes earlier he had made a monumental blunder, announcing “President Putin” while welcoming Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

The physical capacity and mental freshness of the American president, candidate for re-election in November, have not ceased to haunt the corridors of the gigantic Convention Center where this NATO summit took place in Washington.

And the expressions of support from a number of NATO leaders, from French President Emmanuel Macron to German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, have not been enough to erase questions about Joe Biden‘s ability to lead his Democratic camp to victory in November.

“We all make slips of the tongue,” Mr. Macron told the press. “I saw, as always, a president who is in charge, in charge, precise on the issues, which he knows well,” insisted Mr. Macron, for whom the Washington meeting had above all allowed “important decisions” to be taken in favor of Ukraine.

The allies announced the imminent transfer of American-made F-16s, new air defense systems, a financial commitment of at least 40 billion euros in military aid, and the “irreversible” nature of Ukraine’s path to NATO membership.

“As soon as possible”

Mr Zelensky, the guest of honour at the summit, said he hoped that the five air defence systems promised by NATO would arrive in Ukraine “as soon as possible”, recalling the deadly Russian strikes earlier this week, which devastated a children’s hospital in kyiv and left 43 people dead across the country.

He also called on NATO countries on Thursday to lift restrictions on the use of their weapons on Russian soil.

“If we want to win, if we want to prevail, if we want to save our country and defend it, we have to lift all restrictions,” he said at a news conference alongside NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.

Several NATO countries impose restrictions on the use of weapons they supply to Ukraine, which prevents it from striking Russian positions from which attacks on its cities and infrastructure regularly originate. These countries, like Germany, fear an escalation of the conflict with Russia. The United States has relaxed its restrictions, but without giving Ukrainian forces carte blanche.

“We are assessing on a daily basis” how far the Ukrainians can strike into Russian territory, Mr. Biden assured the press.

The Ukrainian president also said he was confident that his country would one day join NATO, even though the allied countries had not extended an invitation to it.

“We are doing and will continue to do everything in our power to ensure that the day comes when Ukraine will be invited and become a member of NATO, and I am confident that we will achieve this,” he said.

China’s aid

NATO leaders have also expressed concern about China’s assistance to Russia in its war against Ukraine.

They discussed the issue at a meeting with their Asia-Pacific partners on Thursday.

In an unusual statement, the allies expressed “deep concern” over China’s “decisive role” alongside Russia since its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

NATO accuses China of supplying dual-use civilian and military equipment to Russia, such as microprocessors, which then allow it to manufacture weapons against kyiv.

On Thursday, the Chinese Foreign Ministry hit back, denouncing a campaign of “prejudice, denigration and provocation” on the part of the Allies.

On the sidelines of this summit, the White House announced that the United States would deploy, on an ad hoc basis, from 2026, new weapons in Germany, allowing strikes from further away than the American systems currently positioned in Europe.