For Joe Biden, the Ukrainian conflict will not last several years. According to him, Russian President Vladimir Putin “has already lost the war” in Ukraine, saying he expects the Ukrainian counteroffensive to push Moscow to negotiate.
“Putin has already lost the war,” Joe Biden told a press conference in Helsinki. “There is no possibility for him to win the war in Ukraine. »
US President Joe Biden said on Thursday he expects Ukraine’s counteroffensive to lead to negotiations with Russia, saying he doesn’t think the war will last for several years. “I hope, and it is my expectation, that Ukraine will make meaningful progress in its offensive and that this will lead to a negotiated settlement at some point. »
He assured that Ukraine will become a member of NATO but not as long as the war is raging between Moscow and kyiv. “The question is not whether or not they should join NATO, (but) when they can join, and they will join NATO,” Biden promised, the day after a summit. Atlantic Alliance in Vilnius where no timetable for such accession was presented.
Vladimir Putin for his part said Thursday that Ukraine’s membership of NATO would aggravate international tensions. “I’m sure it won’t improve Ukraine’s security and in general it will make the world much more vulnerable and lead to additional tensions in the international arena,” he said. .
He also assured that the impact of Western missiles in the conflict in Ukraine was “not determinative”. “They certainly cause damage, but nothing significant is happening in the combat zones where they have been used. The same goes for foreign-made tanks,” President Putin said on state television.
The American president joked Thursday about the risks of eliminating the leader of the Russian paramilitary group Wagner Evgueni Prigojine after his aborted mutiny against Moscow, judging that he should be “watch what he eats”. “God only knows what he’s going to do. I’m not even sure where he is and what contacts he has. If I were him, I would watch what I eat. I would watch the menu,” he said.
During this same press conference, Joe Biden minimized the risk of the use of nuclear weapons by Russian President Vladimir Putin, after new threats from Moscow linked to the possible delivery of Western F-16s to the Ukraine. “I don’t believe there is a real prospect […] of Putin using nuclear weapons. Not only the West, but also China and the rest of the world said, “Don’t go into that area.” »
He finally returned to the fate of American journalist Evan Gershkovich, correspondent for the Wall Street Journal imprisoned for more than 100 days in Russia, for whom he promised to do “everything possible” to free him. “I’m serious about the prisoner exchange. I am determined to do everything in our power to free Americans illegally detained in Russia or elsewhere. And that process is ongoing,” he insisted.
