On Thursday, Joe Biden held official talks with French President Emmanuel Macron at the White House. This is the first state visit of the French leader to the White House after Biden took office in January 2021.
In his opening speech at the ceremony, Biden presented France as a long-standing ally and staunch partner of the United States.
"France and the United States are standing up to Vladimir Putin's aggressive ambitions and Russia's brutal war against Ukraine, which has once again destroyed peace on the European continent," the president said. He also noted that "France and the United States protect democratic values and universal human rights.
French President Emmanuel Macron, for his part, stressed that France and the United States have a shared responsibility to protect democracies on both sides of the ocean that are in doubt.
At the end of the meeting, Biden and Macron issued a statement stating that the two leaders "strongly condemn Russia's illegal war of aggression against Ukraine and emphasize that the deliberate targeting of civilians and civilian infrastructure is a war crime and those responsible must be held accountable."
The two countries reaffirmed their commitment to protecting Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity, including providing necessary political, security, humanitarian, and economic assistance to Ukraine.
