Biden news live: President arrives at Nato summit as US ‘plans to receive 100,000 refugees’

According to NBC’s Kristen Welker, the US is planning to receive 100,000 refugees as the war in Ukraine drives millions from their homes and into other countries, mainly in eastern Europe.

Joe Biden’s condemnation of the war in Ukraine has so far met with broad approval from the American electorate, most of whom view Russia’s assault on its neighbour as unacceptable and want to see the Kremlin punished for it with sanctions (though not via direct US military intervention).

However, that near-consensus has not translated into approval of the president himself, whose ratings are now languishing at a dismal low rivalling even Donald Trump’s historic unpopularity.

According to new book This Will Not Passwhich covers the 2020 election and the first year of the Biden administration, authors Jonathan Martin and Alexander Burns report that Kamala Harris was incensed by a Vogue cover featuring her in a “relatable” pair of converse sneakers instead of a more traditional, formal outfit.

The Russian attack on Ukraine is widely being discussed as a war fuelling a refugee crisis, but there’s another aspect to it as well: the prospect of major disruption to the world’s food supply.

With Ukraine and Russia together producing as much30 per cent of the world’s wheat, the head of the World Food Programme has warned that what was already a horrific number of people facing famine around the world is now set to rise.

“When the Ukraine conflict happened, the world was already facing unprecedented challenges all over the place,” Martin Penner, the WFP’s deputy head of global communications, toldThe Independent. “With hunger numbers and emergencies just getting bigger by the day.”

“Then along comes the war in Ukraine. Ukraine, together with Russia, is the breadbasket of the world. Ukraine by itself produces enough food every year for about 400 million people. A lot of that is exported.”

Andrew Buncombe has the story:

The US President’s trip to Europe starts today with three back-to-back high profile summits with Nato, the G7 and the European Council leaders.

During the Nato meeting of the 30 countries, Mr Biden will discuss whether and how to provide more robust weapons to Ukraine and shore up Nato’s own defences in Poland and along the eastern front with Russia.

Then the G7 leaders will meet and discuss refugee crisis that was sparked by the millions of Ukrainians feeling the country after Russia invaded Ukraine a month ago. The group will also talk about ways to punish Russian President Vladimir Putin for his aggression.

Then European Council leaders are likely to focus on expanding sanctions.

Top aides to Joe Biden have confirmed that the US president will not press his European counterparts to go without Russian oil and gas.

Mr Biden is in Brussels for a special summit of the G7 later today.

The New York Times reported that instead Mr Biden and the European leaders will announce steps that they will take to reduce their dependence on Russian energy.

Jake Sullivan, Mr Biden’s national security adviser said that finding an alternative to Russian oil and gas has been “the subject of intense back-and-forth over the course of the past few days and weeks”.

Mr Sullivan added that the leaders plan to make an announcement on Friday about those efforts.

Only about 43 per cent of Americans approve of Joe Biden and a similar percentage approve of his handling of the relationship with Russia. A new poll by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research reveals that Mr Biden’s negative approval rating has not budged.

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Joe Biden caused a stir on Monday during a gathering of business leaders at the White House when he alluded to a coming “new world order” in the wake of the Ukraine crisis, apparently not stopping to consider the awkward legacy of the phrase.

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A Russian diplomat has said that Russia has the right to use nuclear weapons if it is threatened by Nato.

Dmitry Polyanskiy, the Russian deputy ambassador to the United Nations, told Sky News that “if Russia is provoked by Nato, if Russia is attacked by Nato, why not, we are a nuclear power.”

He said he didn’t think it was “right” for Russian President Vladimir Putin to threaten a nuclear attack, “but it’s not the right thing to threaten Russia, and to try to interfere. So when you’re dealing with nuclear power, of course, you have to calculate all the possible outcomes of your behaviour.”

He added: “I don’t think we’re committing war crimes in Ukraine. Of course, it’s not up to me to assess. I’m not there. You’re not there.”

Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the US ambassador to the UN, said on Wednesday that “it really is unconscionable that Russia would have the audacity to put forward a resolution asking the international community to solve a humanitarian crisis that Russia alone created”.

The UN Security Council on Wednesday voted down a Russian resolution that said there was a growing humanitarian crisis in Ukraine.

Russia and China were the only two countries to vote in favour of the resolution while India abstained.

Thirteen of the 15 members on the council voted against the resolution.