Biden in Europe to bolster West's unity, toughen Russia sanctions

Biden, who is set to give a press conference at NATO headquarters on Thursday, will fly Friday to Poland

US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan warned of 'hard days ahead' for Ukraine

President Joe Biden arrived in Europe Wednesday on a mission to bolster Western unity and ramp up unprecedented sanctions against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine and brutal bid to upset the post-Cold War balance of power.

Underlining how serious the crisis raging in eastern Europe has become, Biden told reporters as he boarded the Marine One helicopter at the White House that he sees "a real threat" of Russian chemical warfare against Ukraine.

Biden, who is set to give a news conference at NATO headquarters on Thursday, will fly Friday to Poland, which neighbours Ukraine and is now the frontline in what some call a new Cold War. On Saturday he meets President Andrzej Duda before returning to Washington.

After four years of Donald Trump, who treated European nations as economic competitors and scorned the traditional US role as senior partner in NATO, Biden has put the accent on unity.

Sullivan said that economic sanctions, imposed by a global network of Western allies to cripple Russia's finances, will be deepened in the summits.

Western partners were also looking to "coordinate on sanctions enforcement so that Russian efforts to evade the sanctions can be dealt with effectively".

In comments on Tuesday, Sullivan noted Ukraine's military resilience, which has been assisted by large-scale Western arms shipments, but he warned against any presumption of a quick end to the war or a climbdown by Moscow.

If the conflict does drag on, Russia's ability to weather military losses and the crushing Western economic sanctions may partly depend on the position taken by its authoritarian partner China.

Sullivan said there was no sign that China was providing military assistance in the wake of a nearly two-hour phone call between President Xi Jinping and Biden last Friday.

"The president will certainly consult on the question of China's potential participation in the conflict of Ukraine while he's in Brussels. He'll do so at NATO," Sullivan said.

"We believe we're very much on the same page with our European partners."

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Originally published as Biden in Europe to bolster West's unity, toughen Russia sanctions