our main story that is dominating through the course of today. nato meeting going on in the g7 members ratified a wide ranging security pact with ukraine and that is a significant development. we have heard a variety of parties in the main leaders and news conferences, we are waiting forjoe biden and let us show you live pictures of the university because joe us show you live pictures of the university becausejoe biden is expected to appear there in the next few minutes in those pictures and introductory remarks are being made we are expecting his final news conference at the summit today and so, both of those are expected in the university for support. but we will do is we will leave those pictures there on the screen to you as we move on in terms of what we take you through in the next couple of minutes but you will not miss a minute there ofjoe biden just as soon as he starts to speak. our europe editor has been catching up with nato s secretary general as result of that n
and more shocking pictures coming out of vermont. rapid flood waters pounding that area following those massive storms. so much damage that the federal government has now officially declared a state of emergency there. so lots to get to, but we begin with the high stakes nato summit in lithuania. members making decisions that could change the course of the war in ukraine and that are already reshaping the alliance itself. this as the man with arguably the most at stake, ukrainian president zelenskyy here, you see him arriving ending speculation on whether he would even be invited or show up to this summit. well, he will meet, as we said, with president biden tomorrow less than three days after the president poured cold water on the idea of ukraine joining the transatlantic alliance. and ahead of his speech, where he ll make his case for his country s membership. zelenskyy tweeted earlier today uncertainty is weakness. nbc s monica alba is traveling with president biden in lit
the allegations. he s been granted bail and is due to appear in court again next month. now on bbc news, hardtalk. welcome to hardtalk, i m stephen sackur. for once, the headlines coming out of ukraine have been dominated by diplomacy rather than the latest from the war front. the leaders of the eu s three biggest countries staged a visit to kyiv on the eve of a key brussels decision will ukraine be given official eu candidate status? for the zelensky government, it would be a symbolic prize to match the practical military and economic assistance still urgently required. well, my guest is one of ukraine s deputy prime ministers, olha stefanishyna. is ukraine getting the backing it needs? deputy pm olha stefanishyna, in kyiv welcome to hardtalk. hello, stephen. thank you very much forjoining us. now, over the last few hours, you have been heavily involved in hosting the leaders of france, germany, and italy in kyiv. the meeting, as we speak, is still ongoing. does the fact
and economic assistance still urgently required. well, my guest is one of ukraine s deputy prime ministers, olha stefanishyna. is ukraine getting the backing it needs? deputy pm olha stefanishyna, in kyiv welcome to hardtalk. hello, stephen. thank you very much forjoining us. now, over the last few hours, you have been heavily involved in hosting the leaders of france, germany and italy in kyiv. the meeting, as we speak, is still ongoing. does the fact of this visit give you hope that you re finally going to get the levels of assistance from europe that you say you need? well, we have been very clear from the very beginning that regardless the outcomes of the negotiations, which are in fact are still ongoing for the third hour already between the leaders, regardless of these outcomes, this visit is already historical and it will be historical not only because of their physical presence here, but also because the historical issues on the agenda. first and foremost, these are