- Leaders from at least 145 countries are expected to attend, with a few notable exceptions: France, the United Kingdom, China and Russia will all be absent.
- A “substantial section” of Biden’s speech to the UN General Assembly on Tuesday will be devoted to the war in Ukraine.
- This will be the first time that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has attended the UN summit in person since the start of the war.
U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin (left) and U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas (right) watch as President Joe Biden speaks about the government’s response and recovery efforts in Maui, Hawaii, and of the ongoing response to Hurricane Idalia, in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington, DC, August 30, 2023.
Saul Loeb | AFP | Getty Images
President Joe Biden will address the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday, where he aims to promote democracy and advocate for increased support for Ukraine.
For Biden, this is another opportunity to advance ideas of diplomacy and democracy against those of aggressive autocracies, as he did at the recent Group of 20 summit earlier this month.
“[Biden] “He will outline to the world the steps he and his administration have taken to promote a vision of American leadership based on the principle of working with others to solve the world’s most pressing problems,” the security adviser said. President of the White House, Jake Sullivan. a briefing on Friday.
Leaders from at least 145 countries are expected to attend, with a few notable exceptions: France, the United Kingdom, China and Russia will all be absent, meaning that four of the five countries that hold permanent seats on the Council UN security personnel will not be present. .
The absence of China and Russia gives Biden an opening to advance ties between the United States and small developing countries that participate in the U.N. but are not invited to other international functions.
Biden is expected to meet on Wednesday with Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, a key southern leader who has also been a supporter of peace talks between Russia and Ukraine. Lula argued that the United States and other Western countries are prolonging the war through their defense support.
The president will also meet with the leaders of the five Central Asian countries of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, marking the first time a U.S. president has done so jointly. He will also meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the first time the two men have met since the prime minister was re-elected last fall.
This will be the first time that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has attended the UN summit in person since the start of the war. He delivered a pre-recorded speech to the assembly during last year’s session.
“President Biden looks forward to hearing President Zelensky’s views on all of this and reaffirming for the world and for the United States, for the American people, his commitment to continuing to lead the world in support of Ukraine,” Sullivan said.
A “substantial section” of Biden’s speech to the General Assembly on Tuesday will be devoted to the war in Ukraine, Sullivan said.
“He will speak to the fundamental fact that the Charter of the United Nations… addresses the fundamental proposition that countries cannot attack their neighbors and steal their territory by force,” Sullivan said, referring to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. “It was also a proposal that was at the heart of the G20 declaration last weekend.”
Biden’s message of support for Ukraine is complicated by the fact that a handful of hardline Republicans in Congress actively oppose additional funding.
The White House is seeking $24 billion in additional aid to Ukraine. She hopes it will pass alongside a resolution to keep the government open while budget negotiations continue. The measure has bipartisan support in the Senate but is stalled in the House of Representatives, where some members, like Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., have said they would not support any additional aid.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy finds himself in a precarious position on the Ukraine issue, as his slim majority leaves him at the whims of each member of his caucus. Conservatives balked last week at McCarthy’s proposal to pair aid to Ukraine with additional border funding.
Zelensky will travel to Washington, D.C., on Thursday to meet with Biden at the White House and speak with lawmakers. Unlike his visit in December, Zelensky will not speak at a joint session of Congress. Rep. Mike Turner, Republican of Ohio, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, said Zelensky would be “very, very convincing.”
“Zelensky is a great spokesperson,” Turner said on CBS News on Sunday. “He really makes his case better than anyone.”
This is a position the White House agrees with.
“He has proven over the last 18 or 19 months that there is no better defender of his country, his people, and the urgent and continuing need for countries like the United States and our allies and partners to step up their efforts to provide the necessary tools and resources that Ukraine needs,” Sullivan said.
