Sunday, December 22, 2024

Nato to send dozens of air defences to Ukraine, says Biden

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The US, along with Germany and Romania, will send the Patriot batteries over to Ukraine, while the Netherlands and other Nato member states will send components to make up another battery. Italy will provide a SAMP-T air defence system.

Mr Biden paid tribute to Nato as the “greatest” military alliance in history, saying it was supported by the “overwhelming bipartisan majority of Americans”.

“The American people know that all the progress we’ve made in the past 75 years has happened behind the shield of Nato,” he said.

He did not mention Donald Trump, a longstanding critic of the alliance. However, he stole his Republican rival’s talking points when he claimed that member states had started spending more on defence during his time in office.

Some 23 allies will spend meet their two per cent spending obligations this year, the US President said – up from nine when he came to office in 2021.

Mr Biden awarded the presidential medal of freedom, the highest civilian award in the US, to Jens Stoltenberg, the outgoing secretary general of Nato.

“A billion people across Europe and North America, indeed the whole world, will reap the rewards of your labour for years to come in the form of security, opportunity and greater freedom,” he said.

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