Biden Macron news: President and Jill Biden host administration’s first state dinner with French guests

President Joe Biden on Thursday said he would be willing to meet with Russian president Vladimir Putin to learn whether he’s willing to end his nearly year-long invasion of Ukraine, but not unilaterally and only after discussions with America’s Nato allies first.

Speaking at a news conference alongside French president Emmanuel Macron after a three-hour bilateral meeting between the two leaders and their respective advisers, Mr Biden said he’d take a meeting with Mr Putin “if he’s willing to talk to find out what he’s willing to do”.

“But I’ll only do it in consultation with my Nato allies. I’m not going to do it on my own,” he added.

Mr Biden’s expression of willingness to meet with the man he has previously called a “war criminal” who “cannot remain in power” at different points since Russia’s war on Ukraine began in late February came as he and Mr Macron pledged to continue American and French support for Ukraine’s fight against Russian invasion forces until Kyiv’s defence forces have emerged victorious.

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In a joint statement issued after their meeting, Mr Biden and Mr Macron said efforts to provide Ukraine with “provision of political, security, humanitarian, and economic assistance” will continue for “as long as it takes” and reaffirmed both nations’ “continued support for Ukraine’s defense of its sovereignty and territorial integrity”.

The leaders said the continued assistance would include “significant resources” for “Ukrainian civilian resilience” during the cold winter months, as well as “stepping up the delivery of air defense systems and equipment needed to repair Ukraine’s energy grid”.

Mr Biden and Mr Macron also said their respective nations intend to keep up provisioning “robust direct budget support” for Kyiv and encouraged international institutions to “scale up” the support already being provided.

Mr Macron said that US support for Ukraine matters to all of Europe.

“For the stability of our world today — because if we consider that we can abandon the country and abandon the full respect of these principles, it means that there is no possible stability in this world,” he told the press on Thursday.

“I think it’s extremely important to have you so much committed,” he added.

The meeting between the two leaders was initially expected to last approximately an hour and 45 minutes, but as reporters waited for Mr Biden and Mr Macron to emerge for the previously-scheduled press conference, it stretched on for more than an hour past the time allowed in the president’s public schedule.

When they finally entered the East Room of the White House, Mr Biden opened his remarks with praise for both Mr Macron and the nation he leads, calling the French Republic “one of our strongest partners and our most capable allies” and referring to Mr Macron as “a friend”.

“We share the same values and ... a core common agenda that we address all challenges together,” he said. “And occasionally we have some slight differences but never in a fundamental way.”

Mr Biden added that the US and France “stand together with all our Nato allies,” as well as the European Union and Group of Seven, “as strong as ever against Russia’s brutal war against Ukraine”.

Mr Biden welcomed the French delegation to the White House on Thursday morning, saying that “stalwart friends in times of triumph and of trial, France and the United States will meet the future, just as we always have: confident in our shared capacity, sustained by the strength of our shared values, and undaunted by any challenge that lies ahead”.

“And the connections that we are building today between our students, our businesses, our trailblazers will see our alliance continue to prosper and grow stronger for decades to come,” Mr Biden added.

Mr Macron looked to history as he spoke of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine.

“France, from the beginnings of American independence, the inception of your country — and the United States in the life sacrifice from the trenches of the Somme to the beaches of Normandy,” Mr Macron said. “Accordingly, we bear a duty to this shared history. As war returns to the European soil following Russia’s aggression against Ukraine and in light of the multiple crises our nations and our societies face, we need to become brothers in arms once more.”

“This spirit of fraternity must enable us to build an agenda of ambition and hope, as our two countries share the same faith in freedom, in democratic values, in empowerment through education and work, and in progress through science and knowledge,” he added.

President Joe Biden held what was the first state dinner of his presidency on Thursday night.

Mr Biden and First Lady Jill Biden welcomed French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte Macron to the White House for the event.

State dinners are seen as key opportunities to maintain or improve diplomatic relations with other nations.

But the president has waited a long time to hold his first state dinner – coming almost two years after he entered the White House in January 2021 – in part due to the pandemic.