WASHINGTON: US President Joe Biden took off Thursday on a swift farewell trip to Germany, for talks with allies to shore up Ukraine’s increasingly desperate fight against Russia.
Biden was also expected to discuss the escalating crisis in the Middle East, as Israel said it was investigating whether Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar had been killed in a military operation in Gaza.
During a flying 24-hour visit to Berlin, the US leader will meet German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, before they are both joined for talks by French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
Biden was originally due in Germany last week for a multi-day visit that would have included a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and a major summit of Kyiv’s allies, but he postponed it as Hurricane Milton barrelled toward Florida.
The White House said the shorter, rescheduled visit to the key NATO ally would “further strengthen the close bond the United States and Germany share as allies and friends and coordinate on geopolitical priorities, including Ukraine’s defense against Russian aggression and events in the Middle East.”
Biden was also keen to make the visit to thank Scholz for facilitating a prisoner exchange deal with Russia earlier this year that freed US reporter Evan Gershkovich, US officials said.
But the focus will be on Ukraine, with Biden, who dropped out of the 2024 White House race in July, keen to consolidate Western military aid for Kyiv in his final three months in office.
Allies are nervously watching the November 5 US presidential election to see if it brings a return of Donald Trump, who has opposed the current level of US support for Ukraine.
Trump has also repeatedly pledged to push through a peace deal if elected — even before taking office — that Kyiv fears would involve it giving up chunks of land to Moscow.
Zelensky told allies in Brussels on Thursday that Ukraine must be in a position of strength before any peace talks with Russia, as he explained his “victory plan” to EU leaders and NATO defense chiefs.
More than two and a half years into the war, Kyiv is slowly but steadily losing territory in its eastern Donbas region and under mounting pressure to forge an exit strategy — which it says must start with ramped-up Western support.
Biden announced a fresh $425 million arms package including air defense and armored vehicles for Ukraine in a call with Zelensky on Wednesday.
The United States is by far the biggest supplier of military aid to Ukraine’s battle against the 2022 Russian invasion, followed by Germany.
Biden heads to Germany to discuss Ukraine, Middle East
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Biden heads to Germany to discuss Ukraine, Middle East
- Biden was also expected to discuss the escalating crisis in the Middle East
- During a flying 24-hour visit to Berlin, the US leader will meet German Chancellor Olaf Scholz
Russia jails soldiers who killed pro-Kremlin American
- Court in Russian-held Donetsk found the soldiers guilty of beating Russell Bentley, 64, to death in April 2024, after they mistook him for a US saboteur
- Bentley — who served in the US army in his youth — had been granted Russian nationality and portrayed himself as the only American fighting for Moscow
MOSCOW: A court in Russian-controlled Ukraine sentenced four Russian soldiers to jail on Monday for the killing of an American communist who had fought with pro-Moscow forces since 2014.
Moscow rarely punishes its soldiers in Ukraine for committing crimes, portraying them as national heroes at home.
The court in Russian-held Donetsk found the soldiers guilty of beating Russell Bentley, 64, to death in April 2024, after they mistook him for a US saboteur.
They then put his body in the back of a car and blew it up.
Bentley — known as “Texas” — was a local celebrity in the city of Donetsk, where he lived, and his disappearance sparked outrage.
The self-styled communist often made social media clips backing Moscow’s Ukraine campaign, produced content for Russia’s state-backed media and had fought alongside pro-Russian separatists since 2014.
Two of the soldiers — Major Vitaly Vansyatsky and Lt. Andrei Iordanov — were sentenced to 12 years in a penal colony and stripped of their military titles. Sergeant Vladislav Agaltsev was handed 11 years while another soldier was given 1.5 years for “concealing crimes.”
The court said the troops did not know Bentley and detained him as he prepared to film the consequences of a Ukrainian strike, thinking he was a spy.
It said the soldiers “reported to their military unit command on the discovery of a saboteur,” before putting him in a car with a bag on his head, where they “beat and tortured” him to “get a confession” — ultimately killing him.
They then put his body in the trunk and blew up the car, the court said.
Russian soldiers in Ukraine have long been accused by Kyiv and international rights groups of torturing captives.
Bentley — who served in the US army in his youth — had been granted Russian nationality and portrayed himself as the only American fighting for Moscow.
In 2022, he told Newsweek that he had several times been “within seconds or inches of death” but added that: “I believe in guardian angels because of how lucky I’ve been here.”
