They will support Ukraine "as long as necessary".

Joe Biden and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz sent a signal of unity to Russia on Friday March 3 from the White House.

This visit to the White House is the second of the German leader.

The head of state had already been there on February 7, 2022. At the time, Russia was “amassing its troops” on the Ukrainian border, Joe Biden recalled from the Oval Office, where the two men made short statements to the press.

Westerners had then promised to "respond" and "we kept our word", said the American president, thanking Olaf Scholz seated near him.

"You have stepped up" in support of kyiv, he said, as Germany recently agreed, after long hesitation, to deliver tanks to Ukraine.

Olaf Scholz himself deemed it "very important" to send a "message" concerning Ukraine, namely that "we will continue (to support it) as long as necessary".

Tensions between Berlin and Washington

This meeting comes after several episodes of friction, such as Joe Biden's frontal opposition upon his election to the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project, carried out with Moscow.

But the tension has especially risen recently around the question of sending tanks to Ukraine.

Germany finally agreed, on January 26, to send a significant number of its Leopard tanks, a turning point in Western military support.

>> To read: In Germany, activists protest against arms deliveries to Ukraine

For her to agree, the United States had to promise heavy armor itself, White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said last week.

Joe Biden had "originally decided not to send them because his soldiers told him that they would not be useful on the battlefield", he explained on the ABC channel.

A version that the German government does not endorse, ensuring that the discussions consisted of building a "common approach", without Berlin forcing Washington's hand.

US aid of $400 million

On the side of the Kremlin, criticisms have been made of this meeting even before it took place.

"The United States is continuing its policy of increasing arms deliveries to Ukraine and persuading their proteges to do the same," spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Friday.

The White House just announced, Friday, a new military aid to Ukraine to the tune of 400 million dollars and composed mainly of ammunition.

With AFP

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