WASHINGTON (AP) - President Joe Biden leaves on Sunday for Europe, the place he'll spend time in three nations tending to alliances which were examined by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

After arriving at night time in London, Biden will meet the following day with King Charles III for the primary time since he was topped. Next is the centerpiece of the journey, the NATO summit in Vilnius, Lithuania. Alliance leaders will debate the conflict and revise plans for coping with Russian aggression.

The remaining cease is in Helsinki, the place Biden on Thursday is predicted to have a good time the increasing alliance, with Finland as the most recent member of NATO.

His nationwide safety adviser, Jake Sullivan, mentioned the journey would “showcase the president’s leadership on the world stage.”

A have a look at Biden’s agenda and the problems he'll face:

Biden arrives in London on Sunday night time and is predicted to have a full schedule of conferences Monday.

“There’s always a lot to talk about with the U.K.,” mentioned Max Bergmann, a former State Department official who leads the Europe Program on the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Biden will maintain talks with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak at 10 Downing St. Sunak is going through an election by the tip of subsequent 12 months. His Conservative Party is lagging badly behind the opposition in opinion polls.

Despite Sunak’s shaky political standing, he has fostered shut ties with Biden and will probably be their sixth assembly since Sunak took workplace final October.

Bergmann mentioned Sunak’s tenure has been a pleasant change of tempo after “there were some concerns about Boris Johnson,” certainly one of Sunak’s predecessors, “being a loose cannon.”

Biden will go to the king at Windsor Castle, a royal residence outdoors London. Biden didn't attend Charles’ coronation - first woman Jill Biden went in his place - so this will likely be their first encounter since then.

They’re anticipated to debate local weather change, a problem that has been a spotlight for each leaders, and the right way to finance initiatives to deal with the issue.

Biden will spend two days within the capital of Lithuania, which is internet hosting the annual NATO summit. He will take part in conferences with leaders and ship a speech from Vilnius University.

The alliance has been reinvigorated by the conflict in Ukraine, and members have been pouring army {hardware} into the nation to assist repel Russia’s invasion.

Biden on Friday defended what he mentioned was a “difficult decision” to supply cluster munitions to Ukraine, a transfer his administration mentioned was key to the struggle and buttressed by Ukraine’s promise to make use of the controversial bombs fastidiously. Biden is prone to face questions from allies on why the U.S. would ship a weapon into Ukraine that greater than two-thirds of NATO members have banned as a result of it has a observe file for inflicting many civilian casualties.

For Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, the summit “will send a clear message: NATO stands united, and Russia’s aggression will not pay.”

But NATO has additionally struggled to bridge divides over essential points. Finland was welcomed into the alliance this 12 months, however Sweden’s membership has been blocked by Turkey and Hungary.

There are additionally disagreements over how shortly to increase an invite to Ukraine to hitch NATO.

Countries on NATO’s japanese flank need to transfer shortly, viewing it as a strategy to deter Russian aggression. The U.S. and others advocate a extra cautious strategy.

One subject has already been settled, at the least in the interim. Stoltenberg’s time period has been prolonged for a 12 months as a result of members couldn't agree on a brand new chief.

Sen. Thom Tillis, who will attend the summit, likened the alliance to a gathering of dozens of members of the family who bicker and conflict however nonetheless stay united.

“At the end of the day, you know you’re family,” mentioned Tillis, R-N.C.

Tillis is main a bipartisan delegation together with Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., who mentioned NATO is extra highly effective than earlier than.

“It’s the strongest military alliance in our history, and I think it only has gotten stronger as a result of U.S. leadership, as the result of Stoltenberg’s leadership and as the result of the threat from Vladimir Putin to all of the NATO allies and other countries in Europe and around the world and to the international order,” she mentioned.

After two nights in Vilnius, Biden visits Helsinki. The cease is a little bit of a victory lap, however may be a reminder of unfinished enterprise.

The Nordic nation in April turned the thirty first member of NATO, ending its historical past of nonalignment and demonstrating how Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has backfired in Europe.

Finland was supposed to hitch alongside its neighbor Sweden, whose admission has stalled. NATO requires unanimous consent of all its members to increase, and the U.S. has been unable to beat objections from Turkey and Hungary.

Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson visited the White House on Wednesday and met with Biden to maintain up the stress for membership. But there's little hope that the problem will likely be resolved in Vilnius.

The White House is billing Biden’s go to to Helsinki as a “U.S.-Nordic Leaders Summit.”

It’s a a lot completely different event from the final time a U.S. president visited Helsinki 5 years in the past.

During that journey, Donald Trump held a information convention with Putin and dismissed considerations about Russian meddling within the Trump’s election victory.

Now Biden is heading to the town to exhibit how his administration has held the road in opposition to Moscow and expanded Western defenses.

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Associated Press author Lorne Cook in Brussels contributed to this report.

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