President Joe Biden and western allies opened a three-day summit in the Bavarian Alps on Sunday intent on keeping economic fallout from the war in Ukraine from fracturing the global coalition working to punish Russia’s aggression. Britain’s Boris Johnson warned the leaders not to give in to “fatigue” even as Russia lobbed new missiles at Kyiv. The leaders were set to announce new bans on imports of Russian gold, the latest in a series of sanctions the club of democracies hopes will further isolate Russia economically. They also were looking at possible price caps on energy meant to limit Russian oil and gas profits that Moscow can pump into its war effort. Biden on Sunday was formally launching a global infrastructure partnership designed to counter China’s influence in the developing world. The initiative aims to leverage $600 billion with fellow Group of Seven countries by 2027 to spend on global infrastructure projects. U.S. officials have long argued that China’s infrastructure initiative traps receiving countries in debt and with investments that benefit China more than their hosts. Russia, in a pre-summit show of force, launched its first missile strikes against the Ukrainian capital in three weeks, striking at least two residential buildings, according to Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko. Biden condemned Russia’s actions as “more of their barbarism,” and stressed the need for allies to remain firm even as the economic reverberations from the war take an economic toll around the globe. “We have to stay together, because Putin has been counting on, from the beginning, that somehow NATO and the G-7 would splinter, but we haven’t and we’re not going to,” Biden said during a pre-summit meeting with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who holds the G-7′s rotating presidency and is hosting the gathering. As the G-7 leaders sat down for their opening session of the summit on Sunday, they took a light-hearted jab at Putin. Johnson could be heard asking whether he should keep his jacket on, adding, “We all have to show that we’re tougher than Putin.” Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau chimed in: “A bare-chested horseback ride.” Over the years, the Kremlin has released several photos of the Russian leader in which he appears shirtless. Biden and his counterparts were using the gathering to discuss how to secure energy supplies and tackle inflation triggered by the war’s fallout. The leaders also were coming together in a new global infrastructure partnership meant to provide an alternative to Russian and Chinese investment in the developing world. Scholz told Biden that the “good message” is that “we all made it to stay united, which Putin never expected,” a reference to Russian President Vladimir Putin, who sent his military across the border into Ukraine in late February. “We can’t let this aggression take the form it has and get away with it,” added Biden. Scholz, who has faced criticism at home and abroad for perceived reluctance to send Ukraine heavy weapons, said “Germany and the U.S. will always act together when it comes to questions of Ukraine’s security.” Johnson, for his part, urged fellow leaders not to give in to “fatigue.” He has expressed concern that divisions may emerge in the pro-Ukraine alliance as the four-month-old war grinds on. Asked whether he thought France and Germany were doing enough, Johnson praised the “huge […]

The post Biden Urges Western Unity on Ukraine Amid War Fatigue appeared first on The Yeshiva World.