The TJoe Biden left today for the UK, where he will meet King Charles, before the US president heads to Vilnius, Lithuania for the NATO summit.

The US presidential plane took off from the military base in Delaware.

Tomorrow will meet Charles III at Windsor Castle for the first time since his coronation as monarch of the United Kingdom.

The two men are expected to talk mainly about environmental issues, according to the White House. The US president will then meet with Prime Minister Rishi Sunan at Downing Street.

But the focus of Biden’s tour is the NATO summit on Tuesday and Wednesday in Vilnius, where the Alliance’s member states will discuss their support for Ukraine against the Russian invasion.

Meanwhile, the Democratic president hopes to use the summit as an opportunity to persuade Turkey to lift its veto on Sweden’s NATO membership, but has said he will not give in to calls for Ukraine to join the alliance.

During his visit to Vilnius, Biden will also deliver a speech on foreign policy issues at a university in the Lithuanian capital.

The final stop of his tour will be Finland, the newest member of the Atlantic Alliance

His diplomatic tour comes shortly after Washington’s highly controversial decision to supply Kiev with cluster munitions, which are banned by most NATO members but which the US continues to use.