Biden’s new task is to ready allies for a long conflict in Ukraine.

When President Biden met his Western allies in Europe three months in the past, the world was rallying behind Ukraine, and NATO abruptly had a brand new sense of function — its outdated function, containing Russia. There was speak of “crippling sanctions.” President Vladimir V. Putin was in retreat, and speak of victory was within the air.

Now, Mr. Biden has returned to Europe — for a Group of seven summit of the world’s wealthiest massive democracies within the German Alps on Sunday and Monday, adopted by a NATO gathering in Madrid — at a second when all the pieces in regards to the conflict is tougher.

Whereas Russia’s oil exports have fallen precipitously, its revenues have been on the rise, a operate of hovering gasoline costs. After concentrating its efforts in Ukraine’s south and east, Russia is making incremental however vital good points because the Ukrainians, surrounded, start to surrender key cities: first Mariupol, and now, within the east, Sievierodonetsk.

So Mr. Biden should put together his allies for a grinding battle — a return to the “lengthy, twilight battle” that President John F. Kennedy talked about through the Chilly Struggle — amid shocks within the meals and vitality markets, and inflation on a scale few imagined six months in the past. Not surprisingly, a number of cracks are already rising as in style discontent, and coming elections, start to fret allied leaders.

White Home officers say that none of it will deter Mr. Biden from squeezing Russia even tougher, and the previous few weeks have introduced behind-the-scenes efforts to achieve agreements on new methods to isolate Moscow.

The White Home additionally plans to announce new steps to bolster NATO’s capabilities, together with a brand new “strategic idea” for the alliance, the primary in a dozen years. Again then, there was nonetheless speak of integrating Russia into Europe; right now that appears fanciful.

The looming subject will likely be the right way to take care of Mr. Putin, at a second when Russia has been recast from a fellow European energy to a pariah state. His isolation will deepen, American officers say. However when President Emmanuel Macron of France mentioned in Could that the West ought to resist “the temptation of humiliation” of Mr. Putin, it was among the many first public indicators of a rift within the elementary technique of how far to push the Russian chief.

“In comparison with the March journey, Biden faces a heightened diploma of trade-offs between home and international coverage targets,” mentioned Richard Fontaine, the chief government of the Heart for a New American Safety, a Washington analysis group. “His precedence will likely be to extend stress on Russia and help to Ukraine, however to take action when the West is fearful about oil and meals costs, its remaining weapons shares and a conflict that reveals no finish in sight.”

It’s the new, grinding nature of the battle that differentiates these two summits from those who have gone earlier than.

Solely two months in the past, People had been speaking brazenly about victory over the Russians, and the reasonable-sounding hope that Mr. Putin’s forces can be compelled to retreat to the positions they held earlier than the Feb. 24 invasion. Mr. Biden is now extra cautious in his public tone, even when his targets stay basically unchanged.

The query is whether or not he can start to maneuver allies from a disaster response to a sustained response to the invasion, understanding that bills will mount and stress will construct as Mr. Putin tries to make use of each weapon at his disposal — like limiting fuel exports and persevering with to dam Ukrainian grain exports — to train leverage over his adversaries.

Mr. Biden, aides say, is consistently weighing whether or not new weapons would escalate the conflict too rapidly and provides Mr. Putin one other justification for retaliation. However he additionally needs to make it possible for Mr. Putin is shedding floor.