Biden: US must continue to help Kyiv

The US is working to ensure peace for the Ukrainian people in the face of Putin's aggression and must continue to assist Kyiv.

Source: US President Joe Biden during a speech at the National Prayer Breakfast at the Capitol in Washington on 1 February; Voice of America

Details: In his speech to the prayer breakfast participants, Biden first mentioned the situation in Gaza: "We value and pray for the lives taken and for the families left behind, for all those who are living in dire circumstances — innocent men, women, and children held hostage or under bombardment or displaced, not knowing where their next meal will come from or if it will come at all."

He stressed that the United States is not only praying for peace, but also working to maintain it in the world.

Biden called the US a unique country, "the only nation based on an idea" and said the whole world was watching the US as a great power. He urged Americans to unite.

Quote: "The challenge of our times reminds us of our responsibility as a nation to help each other [deliver] just and lasting peace — deliver it abroad and here at home."

"Not only do we pray for peace, we are actively working for peace, security, dignity for the Israeli people and the Palestinian people. I’m engaged on this day and night and working, as many of you in this room are, to find the means to bring our hostages home, to ease the humanitarian crisis, and to bring peace to Gaza and Israel — an enduring peace with two states for two peoples — just as we worked for peace, security, and dignity for the Ukrainian people as they show incredible resolve and resilience against Putin’s aggression.  We must continue to help them."

"My prayer, my hope is we continue to believe our best days are ahead of us — that as a nation we continue to believe in honesty, decency, dignity, and respect.  We see each other not as enemies but as fellow human beings, each made in the image of God, each precious in his sight. We leave no one behind.  We believe everyone deserves a fair shot.  We give hate no safe harbour. Together, we believe in America.  That’s my prayer: to remember who we are.  We’re the United States of America, and there is nothing — and I mean this sincerely — nothing beyond our capacity if we act together."

More details: During the event, Speaker of the US House of Representatives Mike Johnson read an excerpt from a prayer. In addition, US senators from both major parties addressed the prayer breakfast attendees, offering prayers for the president and emphasising the importance of unity among the nation and politicians.

For reference:

The National Prayer Breakfast is held annually in the American capital. Usually, politicians and religious leaders from all over the country and from abroad are invited to this meeting. Officially, the purpose of such a meeting is to pray together, talk about the importance of faith (of different religions), and humility among leaders.

Unofficially, such prayer meetings began to be held during World War II, but the first National Prayer Breakfast with the participation of the country's president was held in 1953 under the Eisenhower administration.

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