Joe Biden to visit Germany to discuss Ukraine and Middle East

Joe Biden will visit Germany this week, government sources in Berlin said, after he cancelled a planned trip last week over deadly Hurricane Milton.

The senior German officials who spoke on condition of anonymity confirmed media reports that the US president would travel to Berlin, probably within the next week, but declined to provide further details. Planning for the visit was believed to be ongoing.

German media said Biden would meet chancellor Olaf Scholz and president Frank-Walter Steinmeier for talks in Berlin on Friday expected to cover Ukraine and the Middle East.

The cancellation of the original trip upended plans for a summit of the so-called Ramstein group of countries providing weapons to Ukraine. The meeting at the US airbase of the same name would have discussed possible new aid commitments to Ukraine.

Germany had said UK prime minister Keir Starmer and French president Emmanuel Macron would join the event alongside Biden and Scholz, with 20 other leaders expected to attend. It was thought to be unlikely that such a meeting could take place during Biden’s sharply curtailed rescheduled visit, which was originally slated to cover four days.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy had been set at the Ramstein summit to lay out a “victory plan” for Ukraine to leaders. When the event was called off, he quickly organised a tour of European capitals to make the case for their enduring support.

After talks with Zelenskyy on Friday in Berlin, Scholz announced a €1.4bn (£1.2bn) military aid package for Ukraine by the end of 2024, calling it a signal to Russia that the west would not stop backing Kyiv.

The aid will be given jointly with partner countries Belgium, Denmark and Norway, and includes more air defence, tanks, combat drones and artillery.

“It is a clear message to (Russian president Vladimir) Putin – playing for time will not work. We will not let up in our support for Ukraine,” Scholz said. Germany has been the second biggest supplier country of arms to Ukraine after the United States since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022.

Biden’s trip to Berlin would be his first bilateral visit to Germany as president, after he attended the G7 summit at Bavaria’s Elmau castle in June 2022. The original itinerary included a trip to Angola to fulfil a promise to go to Africa as US leader.

White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre acknowledged last week that there was little time remaining in Biden’s presidency to reschedule as the US prepares to elect his successor. “Three months is not a long time,” she said.

In August, Biden personally thanked Scholz for his contribution to a large-scale prisoner exchange with Russia involving 26 detainees including the Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and the former US marine Paul Whelan, which hinged on Berlin agreeing to a jailed FSB hitman.