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President Joe Biden’s emphatic Oval Office statement Wednesday that the US “fully, fully, fully” backs Sweden’s bid to join NATO emphasized the extraordinary, legacy defining role he has played in defying 21st century Russian expansionism.
Yet as the war in Ukraine grinds deep into its second, bloody summer, its short-term trajectory — and the shape of the conflict’s ultimate resolution — remain as uncertain as they were after the Russian invasion stalled early last year.
And several developments are underscoring the still high peril of the conflict as Biden prepares to head to Lithuania next week for a hugely symbolic NATO summit in one of the Baltic states once forcibly folded into the Soviet Union.
