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Oct. 20 (UPI) -- President Joe Biden and European Union leaders Charles Michel and Ursula von der Leyen pledged Friday to put up a "united front" as they seek to support Ukraine and Israel in their respective wars, among other key issues.
The three leaders met Friday afternoon at the White House Cabinet Room as the war in the Middle East approached its second full week. It was the second time European Council President Michel and European Commission chief von der Leyen have had a summit at the White House since Biden took office in 2021.
"We stood together to support the brave people of Ukraine in the face of Putin aggression," Biden said as he welcomed his counterparts in the Cabinet Room. "And we stood together to tackle economic challenges, established standards to guide our relationship with China, and we're standing together now to support Israel in the wake of Hamas' appalling terrorist attack."
Ahead of the meeting, Michel said the EU and the United States would preset "a united front to tackle all these challenges head on." Von der Leyen agreed, adding that the bloc would have "rock solid support" for Ukraine.
Central to the meeting was Biden's address to the nation Thursday night from the Oval Office in which he announced his plan to ask Congress for tens of billions of dollars in new assistance to help both Ukraine and Israel.
Ukraine is seeking new funding for the war after the U.S. Congress passed a stopgap spending bill that omitted any further assistance to Ukraine due to stout opposition from Republican hardliners. Meanwhile, the U.S. House is stalled after multiple unsuccessful rounds of voting to elect a new speaker, and that has to happen before any business can be accomplished in the chamber.
The leaders planned to discuss ways to expand their cooperation on clean energy, global supply chains, economic and digital security and artificial intelligence, but the talks were expected to primarily focus on how to boost support for Ukraine amid the ongoing Russian invasion.
On Oct. 2, foreign ministers from the European Union gathered in Kyiv to discuss how the bloc could provide more military assistance to Ukraine while seeking inroads with U.S. lawmakers to continue supporting Ukraine's defense, which Biden called critical to the future of democracy worldwide.
The meeting took place the same week as the surprise attack on Israel by the militant group Hamas, triggering another major global conflict that put pressure on the White House to show support for two key allies.
"History has taught us that when terrorists don't pay a price for their terror, when dictators don't pay a price for their aggression, they cause more chaos and death and more destruction," Biden said while seated at the Resolute Desk. "They keep going. And the cost and the threats to America and the world keep rising."
At the last transatlantic conference in June 2021, the leaders endorsed an outline for EU-U.S. cooperation in the post-pandemic era.
