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US President Joe Biden embarked on a four-day trip to Europe on Wednesday to meet key allies aiming to prevent Russia's war in Ukraine developing into a more catastrophic phase amid new fears Moscow could resort to chemical or nuclear warfare.
“I think it's a real threat,” Mr Biden told reporters on Wednesday when asked about the threat of chemical warfare.
Jake Sullivan, Mr Biden’s national security adviser, said the president would co-ordinate with allies on military assistance for Ukraine and new sanctions on Russia. He added that Mr Biden is working on long-term efforts to boost defences in Eastern Europe, where countries especially fear Russian aggression. The president is also aiming to reduce the continent’s reliance on Russian energy.
“This war will not end easily or rapidly,” Mr Sullivan told reporters at a White House briefing on Tuesday.
“For the past few months, the West has been united. The president is travelling to Europe to make sure we stay united.”
Mr Sullivan said Russian President Vladimir Putin’s references to nuclear weapons at the beginning of the conflict are “something that we do have to be concerned about,” adding that Mr Biden would be talking with allies about “potential responses” if the Russian leader takes that step.
Mr Sullivan’s description of Mr Biden's trip suggested that the crisis is entering a new and uncertain phase.
The president will touch down in Brussels on Wednesday night before back-to-back meetings with Nato and European leaders at the alliance's headquarters. There, the leaders are expected to announce additional sanctions on Russia.
“I think the meeting of all heads of state and government in Nato will provide us with yet another platform to demonstrate our unity, our support to Ukraine, but also our readiness to protect and defend all Nato allies,” Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg told NBC’s Meet the Press on Sunday.
Mr Biden will also visit Poland, which has so far taken in more than 2.1 million Ukrainian refugees, to discuss the humanitarian crisis.
The Eastern European Nato ally, which shares a border with Russia, proposed sending peacekeepers into Ukraine, a step that Mr Biden has thus far rejected. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said any western ground presence in Ukraine could lead to a war with the West.
The US and its allies for weeks have imposed a series of sweeping sanctions on Russia and sent billions of aid into Ukraine, whose city of Mariupol has been surrounded by Russian forces.
Hundreds of thousands of people in the port city have been sheltering since the early stages of the war nearly four weeks ago. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said 100,000 of its residents have been cut off from food, water and medicine due to the siege.
Agencies contributed to this report
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A firefighter works at a residential district that was damaged by shelling, as Russia's invasion of Ukraine continues, in Kyiv, Ukraine. Reuters -
A woman removes pieces of broken glass from a shop window after a bombing in Kyiv, Ukraine. AP -
Residents clean the street outside apartments damaged by shelling, in Kyiv, Ukraine. AP -
A man walks at a residential district that was damaged by shelling, as Russia's invasion of Ukraine continues, in Kyiv, Ukraine. Reuters -
Rescuers work at the site of buildings damaged by shelling, as Russia's invasion of Ukraine continues, in Mykolaiv, Ukraine. Reuters -
Launch of missiles by the coastal missile system 'Bastion' on infrastructure facilities of the Armed Forces of Ukraine from an undisclosed position in Crimea. As a result of a strike with long-range precision weapons, an arsenal with weapons and military equipment of Ukrainian troops in the village of Orzhev, 14 kilometres north-west of the city of Rivne, two Tochka-U launchers near Kiev, and eight anti-aircraft missile systems were destroyed. EPA -
Pictures lie amidst the rubble of former teacher Natalia's house which was was hit in a military strike, amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine. Reuters -
A Ukrainian serviceman rests at his position in Kharkiv, Ukraine. AP -
A hug for a child at the railway station in Przemysl, near the Polish-Ukrainian border, as Ukrainian refugees make their way out of the war zone. AFP -
Displaced Ukrainians on a Poland-bound train bid farewell at Lviv, western Ukraine. AP -
Ukrainian servicemen rest in Kharkiv. AP -
A car wrecked and burnt by shelling in a street in Kharkiv, Ukraine. AP -
A member of pro-Russian unit in uniform without insignia handles a mortar round at a weapons depot near Marinka, in the Donetsk region of Ukraine. Reuters -
The aftermath of shelling in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv. EPA -
Nurses in tears after Russian shelling of a psychiatric hospital in Mykolaiv, southern Ukraine. AFP -
Candles and lights form a giant peace sign during the Avaaz vigil in front of the European Council and Commission buildings in Brussels, Belgium. AP -
A wrecked car in a ruined street in Kharkiv, Ukraine. AP -
Rescue workers at an industrial building damaged by an air strike in Kyiv, Ukraine. Reuters -
The monument to the Duke of Richelieu, one of the founders of the city of Odesa, is covered by sand bags. Near by, a placard shows the building before the Russian invasion. EPA -
People clean up a room in an apartment building in Kyiv destroyed in an air raid, as Russia presses on with its invasion of Ukraine. Reuters -
An instructor shows citizens how to fire the weapon during a shooting training session in Ivano-Frankivsk, Ukraine. Reuters -
Russian troops hurl stun grenades at demonstrators protesting against the invasion, in Kherson, Ukraine. Reuters -
Ukrainian servicemen stand guard at a military checkpoint in Kyiv. AFP -
Ukrainian refugees Sasha Alexandra and Olena embrace shortly before being allowed to cross into the United States to seek asylum in Tijuana, Mexico. They fled their city of Dnipro this month and travelled to Germany before flying to Mexico. AFP -
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in a broadcast speech in Kyiv, calling on citizens to 'drive the occupiers out'. EPA -
An unexploded rocket in a cemetery in Mykolaiv, southern Ukraine. AFP -
A portrait of a young woman who died during a Russian attack, next to her fresh grave in the Mykolaiv cemetery. AFP -
Tents set up for Ukrainian refugees inside a train station in Bucharest, Romania. AFP -
Workers cover a sculpture outside the home of Lviv National Opera to protect it from damage amid fighting in Ukraine. Reuters -
Olena, the mother of Denys Snihur, a 25-year-old soldier killed by Russian shelling in the northern town of Ovruch, mourns him at his funeral in Lviv. Reuters -
All that is left of a shopping centre after shelling in Kyiv. AP -
Civilian volunteers attend a Ukrainian Territorial Defence Forces training camp in Brovary, north-east of Kyiv. AP -
Refugees at a temporary accommodation centre in a school gymnasium in Taganrog, Russia. EPA -
Oil storage tanks burn in Chernihiv, Ukraine, in a satellite image from Maxar Technologies. EPA -
President Joe Biden discusses the US response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine at the Business Roundtable CEO Quarterly Meeting. EPA -
The wreck of a Russian military vehicle near Kharkiv. EPA -
Firefighters work at the site of a shopping centre bombing in Kyiv. Reuters -
Seven-year-old Amellia Anisovych, a refugee from Ukraine, sings the Ukraine national anthem at the start of a fund-raising concert in Lodz, Poland. Amellia became known for singing a song from the film 'Frozen' in a bomb shelter in Kyiv. AP -
People queue at the National Stadium in Warsaw to apply for ID numbers that will entitle them to work and receive free health care and education in Poland. AP -
Checkout tills are damaged at a supermarket in a shopping centre that was damaged in a bombing in Kyiv. Reuters -
Cars are damaged at the site of a bombing at a shopping center in Kyiv. Reuters -
A woman comforts a boy while refugees wait for Ukrainian police to check their papers and belongings in Brovary, Ukraine. AP -
A refugee family sit in front of a tent at a temporary shelter offered by the Free Christian Church in Uszka, Hungary. Getty Images -
Firefighters carry a ladder across the debris following Russian shellings that destroyed the Retroville shopping mall in Kyiv. AFP -
A rescuer inside a shopping mall damaged by an airstrike in Kyiv. Reuters
