WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden is heading to Germany Thursday and will visit Angola the first week in December, rescheduling visits that were postponed so he could remain in Washington to monitor the federal response to Hurricane Milton as it struck Florida.
The initial itinerary for the postponed trip included a meeting on the war in Ukraine with allied nations at an American military base in Germany before Biden was to continue on to Angola, but this visit to Berlin will be brief. Press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Biden would speak by phone Wednesday with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, but they would not be able to meet in Europe this time.
On Wednesday, the Biden administration announced a further $425 million in military assistance to Ukraine, bringing its total to more than $64 billion in the two and a half years since Russia’s invasion. Wednesday’s package includes surface-to-air missiles to protect Ukrainian infrastructure from Russian attacks and long range rockets and artillery to help its war effort.
Biden and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz have also spoken by phone to discuss the need for the countries to “continue our strong collaboration on geopolitical priorities, including supporting Ukraine’s defense against Russian aggression,” according to the White House. But Jean-Pierre said the trip was important to Biden, in part because of Germany’s help with a complicated hostage swap with Russia.
“The president really wanted to make sure to go to Germany to thank Chancellor Scholz directly,” she said.
There’s a significant measure of anxiety in Europe about what next month’s U.S. presidential election could mean for Ukraine.
Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee, has been in lockstep with Biden about the need to maintain robust economic and military support for Ukraine. Republican Donald Trump has said he would move to quickly to end the war the war with Russia should he regain the White House.
Trump’s running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, has said that the plan would include establishing a “demilitarized zone” and that Ukraine would not reclaim territory that Russia occupies and would agree not to join NATO.
Scholz has been one of Biden’s closest global allies.
In addition to his robust support for Ukraine, Scholz played a critical role in helping free Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, corporate security executive Paul Whelan, and others from Russian prisons in a multinational prisoner swap.
As part of the biggest prisoner exchange in post-Soviet history, Scholz agreed to release Vadim Krasikov, a Russian who was convicted of the 2019 murder of a 40-year-old Georgian citizen who had fought Russian troops in Chechnya and later claimed asylum in Germany.
Biden has not visited Africa since taking office in early 2021.
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