World enews: Biden will travel to Belgium to ‘reaffirm’ US ‘ironclad commitment’ to Nato

US President Joe Biden will fly to Brussels, Belgium for an extraordinary summit of Nato leaders later this month, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said Tuesday.

Ms Psaki said Mr Biden will use the trip to discuss Nato’s “ongoing deterrence and defence efforts in response to Russia’s unprovoked and unjustified attack on Ukraine,” and to “reaffirm” America’s “ironclad commitment” to the alliance.

She added that the president will also join a previously-scheduled European Council summit, at which he plans to discuss “shared concerns” about the invasion, including US and European efforts to “impose economic costs on Russia” and provide humanitarian support to the millions of Ukrainian refugees displaced by the invasion.

The announcement of Mr Biden’s upcoming travel comes just one day before Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky is set to address members of the US House of Representatives and Senate, and just hours after the US Treasury unveiled a new round of sanctions against Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko, his wife, and 11 other Russian defence officials.

Ms Psaki said the US and European efforts have so far imposed “unprecedented costs” on Russia by reversing three decades of progress made since the fall of the Soviet Union in less than a month.

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