华盛顿-华盛顿(美联社)——美国总统乔·拜登周一感谢首相梅特·弗雷德里克森，感谢丹麦在西方联盟中“挺身而出”乌克兰因为它试图抵御俄罗斯长达15个月的入侵。
白宫椭圆形办公室之行是拜登本周与欧洲盟友举行的两场重要会议中的第一场，这些会议将主要关注乌克兰战争的未来，包括最近启动的训练乌克兰并最终为其装备美国制造的F-16战斗机的努力。拜登将于周四会见英国首相里什·苏纳克。
英国和丹麦都在新生的联合国际计划中发挥着关键作用，拜登最近批准了这一计划，此前几个月，他一直拒绝乌克兰总统弗拉基米尔·泽伦斯基(Volodymyr Zelenskyy)关于美国飞机的呼吁。
“对核心价值观的共同承诺给了我们力量——至少我是这么认为的，”拜登说。“我们一起努力保护这些价值观——包括支持乌克兰人民反抗俄罗斯的野蛮侵略。”
拜登与两个主要北约盟国领导人的单独会晤正值这场15个月战争的关键时期，乌克兰准备发起反攻。这也是美国和欧洲希望向莫斯科证明西方联盟仍然强大并专注于巩固对乌克兰的长期承诺的时刻，因为冲突还没有结束的迹象。
双方在会议开始时对记者发表的简短讲话中都没有提到F-16协议，但白宫官员表示，在训练乌克兰使用现代飞机方面的协调将是会谈的核心部分。
弗雷德里克森对拜登领导跨大西洋联盟表示感谢。
她说:“我期待着在国防和安全方面与你们进行更密切的合作。”。
自20世纪70年代以来，丹麦已经购买了数十架美国制造的F-16，并表示愿意向乌克兰提供一些。英国强烈主张联合向乌克兰提供战斗机，并表示将支持乌克兰获得它想要的F-16战斗机。但是英国没有F-16战斗机，并且已经排除了派遣皇家空军台风战斗机的可能性。
取而代之的是，英国表示将从初夏开始对乌克兰飞行员进行西方标准喷气式飞机的基础训练，为他们驾驶F-16做准备。乌克兰飞行员随后将前往其他国家接受下一阶段的训练。
F-16协议是美国和欧洲最近高调做出的几项努力之一，这些努力的重点是在战争进行之际支持西方的决心。莫斯科官员称，乌克兰军队周一连续第二天全力突破俄罗斯在乌克兰东南部的防线。基辅当局没有证实这些袭击，并暗示这一说法是俄罗斯的误报诡计。
在椭圆形办公室会见弗雷德里克森时，一名记者问他是否相信乌克兰人会成功反击，拜登什么也没说，只是举手祈祷。
上周，弗雷德里克森和苏纳克等45位欧洲领导人前往摩尔多瓦参加首次欧洲政治共同体峰会，他们在会上强调支持东欧拉近与西方关系并遏制莫斯科的雄心。
预计拜登还将与弗雷德里克森和里什讨论下个月在立陶宛举行的北约峰会的准备工作。目前，泽伦斯基向北约施加越来越大的压力，要求北约向乌克兰提供具体的安全保证，并为基辅最终赢得该组织成员资格提供明确的道路。
这个由31个成员国组成的联盟还在考虑提升乌克兰在北约的非成员国地位，并准备一个安全承诺框架，一旦与俄罗斯的战争结束，乌克兰就可以提供这一框架。
奥巴马政府时期的前国务院高级官员马克斯·博格曼说，拜登和他的欧洲同行的任务是在乌克兰备受期待的反攻后保持一致。
“在这场冲突中，我们不仅低估了乌克兰人，也低估了欧洲人，”博格曼说，他现在是华盛顿战略与国际研究中心(Center for Strategic and International Studies)的欧洲、俄国和欧亚项目主任。“他们不会动摇，但他们也需要继续寻找新的资金投入军事装备，以支持乌克兰人。大西洋两岸都有一个问题:维持乌克兰到底需要多少钱?”
会后，弗雷德里克森在与记者的交流中表示，她对近期结束冲突的希望渺茫。
“一个巴掌拍不响，”她说。“所以我们需要俄罗斯发出一些信号，我不认为我们联盟中的任何人愿意在没有乌克兰的情况下做任何事情。所以从他们开始——乌克兰想从这里得到什么。”
丹麦的中间派政府上周表示，未来十年将投资约1430亿克朗(206亿美元)用于国防，理由是“严重的威胁形势”。政府雄心勃勃，要实现北约提出的到2030年军费开支占国内生产总值2%的目标，这也是对俄罗斯入侵乌克兰的部分回应。
在宣布这项开支计划的同时，弗雷德里克森已经成为北约秘书长延斯·斯托尔滕贝格9月任期结束后可能的继任者。当被问及她是否与拜登谈论过预期的空缺时，弗雷德里克森说，她不想“在这些关于北约的猜测中走得更远”
Biden praises Denmark for 'standing up' for Ukraine in war with Russia
WASHINGTON --WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden thanked Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen on Monday for Denmark's role in a Western alliance “standing up" forUkraineas it tries to fend off Russia’s 15-month-old invasion.
The Oval Office visit was the first of a pair of critical meetings Biden is holding with European allies this week that will focus heavily on what lies ahead in the war in Ukraine — including the recently launched effort to train, and eventually equip, Ukraine with American-made F-16s fighter jets. Biden will meet Thursday with British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.
Both Britain and Denmark are playing a pivotal role in the nascent joint international plan that Biden recently endorsed after months of resisting calls from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for U.S. aircraft.
“There's a shared commitment to the core values and that gives us our strength — at least that's what I believe,” Biden said. “Together we're working to protect those values — including standing up for the people of Ukraine against the brutal aggression of the Russians.”
Biden's separate meetings with the leaders of two key NATO allies come at a crucial period in the 15-month war as Ukraine readies to launch a counteroffensive. It's also a moment when the U.S. and Europe are looking to demonstrate to Moscow that the Western-alliance remains strong and focused on cementing a longer-term commitment to Ukraine with no end to the conflict in sight.
Neither mentioned the F-16 agreement in their brief remarks before reporters at the start of the meeting, but White House officials said that coordination on training Ukraine on modern aircraft would be a central part of the talks.
Frederiksen for her part thanked Biden for leading the transatlantic alliance.
“I am looking forward to working even closer with you on defense and security," she said.
Denmark has purchased dozens of American-made F-16s since the 1970s and has indicated it is open to the possibility of providing Ukraine with some. Britain strongly advocated for a coalition to supply Ukraine with fighter planes, and says it will support Ukraine getting the F-16s it wants. But the U.K. does not have any F-16s, and has ruled out sending Royal Air Force Typhoon jets.
Instead, Britain says it will give Ukrainian pilots basic training on Western-standard jets starting in early summer to prepare them to fly F-16s. The Ukrainian pilots will then go on to other countries for the next stages of training.
The F-16 agreement is among several recent high-profile efforts by the U.S. and Europe focused on bolstering Western resolve as the war grinds on. Moscow officials claimed that Ukrainian forces were making a major effort to punch through Russian defensive lines in southeast Ukraine for a second day Monday. Kyiv authorities didn’t confirm the attacks and suggested the claim was a Russian misinformation ruse.
Asked by a reporter during his Oval Office meeting with Frederiksen whether he believed the Ukrainians would be successful in their counteroffensive, Biden said nothing but raised his hand and crossed his fingers.
Last week, Frederiksen and Sunak were among 45 European leaders who traveled to Moldova for the first summit of the European Political Community where they underscored support for Eastern Europe's ambitions to draw closer to the West and keep Moscow at bay.
Biden was also expected to discuss with Frederiksen and Rishi preparations for next month's NATO summit in Lithuania that comes amid growing pressure on the alliance from Zelenskyy on NATO to offer Ukraine concrete security guarantees and a defined path for Kyiv to eventually win membership into the group.
The 31-member alliance is also looking at boosting Ukraine’s non-member status in NATO and preparing a framework for security commitments that it can offer once the war with Russia is over.
Max Bergmann, a former senior State Department official during the Obama administration, said Biden and his European counterparts' task is to stay on the same page for what comes after Ukraine's much-anticipated counteroffensive.
“Throughout this conflict, we have not only underestimated the Ukrainians but we have also underestimated the Europeans,” said Bergmann, who is now director of the Europe, Russia and Eurasia Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. “They're not wavering but they will also need to keep finding new funds to plow into military equipment to support the Ukrainians. There’s a question on both sides of the Atlantic: How much will it actually take to sustain Ukraine?”
Following the meeting, Frederiksen suggested in an exchange with reporters that she had dim hopes of an endgame to the conflict in the near term.
“It takes two to tango,” she said. “So we need some signals from Russia and I don’t think any of us in the alliance are willing to do anything without Ukraine. So it starts with them — what Ukraine wants out of this.”
Denmark’s centrist government said last week that it would look to invest some 143 billion kroner ($20.6 billion) in the country’s defense over the next decade, citing a “serious threat picture.” The government has an ambition to reach NATO’s target of spending 2% of gross domestic product on military budgets by 2030, in part as a response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The spending plan was announced as Frederiksen has emerged as a possible contender to succeed NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg when his term ends in September. Asked whether she spoke to Biden about the expected vacancy, Frederiksen said she did not want to go “further in these speculations about NATO.”
