President Joe Biden is heading to Germany Thursday and will visit Angola the first week in December, rescheduling visits that were postponed so he could remain in Washington to monitor the federal response to Hurricane Milton as it struck Florida.
The initial itinerary for the postponed trip included a meeting on the war in Ukraine with allied nations at an American military base in Germany before Biden was to continue on to Angola, but this visit to Germany will be brief. Press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Biden would speak by phone Wednesday with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, but they would not be able to meet in Europe this time.
Biden and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz have also spoken by phone to discuss the need for the countries to "continue our strong collaboration on geopolitical priorities, including supporting Ukraine's defense against Russian aggression," according to the White House. But Jean-Pierre said the trip was important to Biden, particularly because of Germany's help with a complicated hostage swap with Russia .
"The president really wanted to make sure to go to Germany to thank Chancellor Scholz directly," she said.
There's a significant measure of anxiety in Europe about what next month's U.S. presidential election could mean for Ukraine.
