HELSINKI, July  13, 2023 (BSS/AFP) - US President Joe Biden said Thursday
that Russia's Vladimir Putin has already lost the war in Ukraine, expressing
hope that Kyiv's counter-offensive would force Moscow to the negotiating table.

As Russia launched fresh strikes and a new bout of nuclear-sabre rattling,
Biden said there was no real prospect of Putin using nuclear weapons and
insisted the war would not drag on for years.

Biden also used a visit to Finland, NATO's newest member, to pledge that
Ukraine would one day join the alliance, despite NATO leaders failing to give
Kyiv a timeline at a key summit this week.

"Putin's already lost the war. Putin has a real problem," Biden told a
press conference with Finnish President Sauli Niinisto. "There is no
possibility of him winning the war in Ukraine."

NATO leaders had dashed Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky's hopes for a
clear timeline to join the military alliance, saying at this week's summit in
Vilnius that they would offer an invite only when "conditions are met".

But while Biden said no country could become a NATO member while it was at
war -- with Ukraine joining now meaning a "third world war" -- he vowed Kyiv
would one day join the club.

"It's not about whether or not they should or shouldn't join. It's about
when they can join, and they will join NATO," Biden said.

- 'Don't go there' -

Moscow's riposte to the NATO summit came in the form of its latest aerial
assault on Ukraine, injuring four people, while Kyiv said it had destroyed 20
Russian attack drones and two cruise missiles.

In a sign of its anger at Western backing for Kyiv, Moscow said it would
regard F-16 fighter jets sent to Ukraine as a "nuclear" threat because of their
capacity to carry atomic bombs.

"Russia cannot ignore the ability of these aircraft to carry nuclear
weapons. No amount of assurances will help here," Foreign Minister Sergei
Lavrov was quoted as saying by the Russian foreign ministry.

But Biden played down the latest bout of nuclear rhetoric from Russia.

"I don't think there's any real prospect... of Putin using nuclear weapons.

Not only has the West but China and the rest of the world has said don't go
there," he said.

Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin should meanwhile be careful of poisoning
following the mercenary group's failed uprising in Russia, Biden added.

"God only knows what he's likely to do. We're not even sure where he is and
what relationship he has. If I were (him), I'd be careful what I ate. I'd keep
my eye on my menu," Biden sad in Helsinki.

Biden also said he was "serious" on the prospect of a prisoner exchange for
jailed Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich to get him home from
Russia.

- 'Unwavering' -

The US president was holding talks in the Finnish capital after G7 powers
vowed to back Ukraine for as long as it takes to beat Russia.

Finland, which shares a 1,300 kilometre (800-mile) border with Russia,
ended its historic military non-alignment and joined NATO following Moscow's
invasion of Ukraine.

Biden and the leaders of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden
pledged "unwavering" support for Ukraine in a joint statement after the talks.

They also discussed climate, which Biden called the "only existential
threat humanity faces".

Biden is the first US president to visit Helsinki since Donald Trump's
summit five years ago with Putin, and his press conference took place in the
same hall.

He pledged that the United States would remain a member of NATO, after
being asked about what would happen if Trump, who mooted pulling out of the
alliance, is re-elected next year.

But Biden's stress on the strength and symbolism of NATO contrasted with
events at the NATO summit, when Zelensky slammed the "absurd" decision not to
fast-track Ukraine's membership.

Instead, G7 nations later offered Ukraine a package of long-term security
commitments, involving bilateral deals between Kyiv and the world's richest
nations.

Zelensky insisted the promises amounted to a "significant security victory"
but did not disguise the fact that he would have preferred a timetable for
Ukraine.

In Kyiv, recently-supplied Western weapon systems were insufficient to
cover the whole country, the spokesman for Ukraine's air forces Yuriy Ignat
said after the overnight strikes.

"We do not have means to destroy ballistic missiles," Ignat told national
television on Thursday morning.