President Joe Biden called Tuesday for world nations to stand by Ukraine in its war against Russia, which he said is solely responsible for the illegal conflict and has the power to end it.
Biden expressed his continued support for Ukraine in an address to the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
“Like every nation in the world, the United States wants this war to end,” Biden told the member state leaders in attendance. “No nation wants this war to end more than Ukraine, and we strongly support Ukraine in its efforts to bring about a diplomatic resolution that delivers just and lasting peace.”
Biden called the war in Ukraine an “illegal war of conquest” started by Russia, which he says “bears responsibility” for the war. Russia, he said, “has the power to end this war immediately.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was present at the U.N. meeting.
“It is Russia alone that stands in the way of peace because Russia’s price for peace is Ukraine’s capitulation, Ukraine’s territory, and Ukraine’s children,” Biden said. “If we abandon the core principle of the United States to appease an aggressor, can any member state in this body feel confident that they are protected? If we allow Ukraine to be carved up, is the independence of any nation secure? I’d respectfully suggest the answer is, ‘No.'”
“We have to stand up to this naked aggression today and deter other would-be aggressors tomorrow,” he added.
Zelensky traveled to the U.S. this week for the second time since the war began in February 2022, to make his case for more financial and military aid for his country. Following his discussions with world leaders at the U.N. headquarters in New York, Zelensky is expected to travel to Washington, D.C., to meet with congressional lawmakers and to visit the White House on Thursday.
His diplomatic trip comes as Biden’s request for $24 billion in new Ukraine aid is held up in congressional budget negotiations. If lawmakers fail to come to a spending agreement by the end of the month, the U.S. government will shut down.
House speaker Kevin McCarthy (R., Calif.) and other GOP congressional leaders proposed a short-term spending plan earlier this week that would push back the funding deadline to October 31. To pass the plan, McCarthy can’t afford to lose more than four Republican votes in the House. The Republican House then has to negotiate with the Democratic-controlled Senate, and get a compromise bill signed by Biden by September 30.
During his 27-minute speech on Tuesday, Biden also called on the U.N. to update and strengthen world institutions while forging new partnerships, “defend democracy” abroad, invest more money to curb the “existential” climate crisis, and cooperate to govern and restrict artificial intelligence, among other strategic goals.
On AI, the president advised nations must govern the emerging technology, “not the other way around, having it govern us.”
Economic cooperation between the U.S. and China was another key topic in his address. “We seek to responsibly manage the competition between our countries so it does not tip into conflict,” Biden said, “but we also stand ready to work together with China on issues where progress hinges on our common efforts.”
He then proceeded to talk about the “existential threat” that the climate crisis poses for “all of humanity” as one of those issues, citing record heat waves in the U.S. and all over the world this summer and the recent wildfires in Canada.