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Added on the 26/03/2022 15:45:07 - Copyright : AFPTV - First images
US President Joe Biden will use a trip to an emergency NATO summit next week to assert Washington's "iron-clad" backing to its allies, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki tells reporters. SOUNDBITE
The United States stresses its NATO commitment to Poland is "ironclad" after its ally said that a Russian missile had breached its airspace. SOUNDBITE
In a speech to a cheering crowd in Vilnius, US President Joe Biden vows that the West will not abandon Ukraine in its fight against the Russian invasion. "We will not waver," he tells the crowd assembled in the courtyard of Vilnius University, adding that "we will stand for liberty and freedom today, tomorrow and for as long as it takes." IMAGES
NATO members have agreed that their established goal of spending two percent of their national output on defence will become a minimum level, alliance chief Jens Stoltenberg tells reporters. "Eleven allies now reach or exceed the two percent benchmark," he says at the end of the first day of the NATO summit in Vilnius. "And we expect this number will rise substantially next year. Today, allies made an enduring commitment to invest at least two percent of gross domestic product annually in defence." SOUNDBITE
Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda welcomes US President Joe Biden at the Presidential Palace on the first day of the NATO summit in Vilnius, Lithuania. IMAGES