In the first of several farewell addresses this week, President Joe Biden said that his administration is leaving his successor Donald Trump “with a very strong hand to play” in foreign policy.

Biden made the case that his administration strengthened fractured alliances that made a difference in international hotspots, including following Hamas’ attack on Israel and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

“When Putin invaded Ukraine, he thought he’d conquer Kyiv in a matter of days,” Biden said in his speech at the State Department. “But the truth is, since that war began, I’m the only one that stood in the center of Kyiv, not him. Putin never has.”

The speech was carried by major cable news networks.

Biden’s didn’t dwell on the chaotic nature of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, in which a terrorist attack killed 13 U.S. service members. But the president said that “it was time to end the war,” the longest in U.S. history.

Biden also said that his administration “pressing hard to close” a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas, but he did not go into detail on the issue that has divided Democrats.

“We have a structure which will free the hostages, halt the fighting, provide security to Israel and allow us to significantly surge humanitarian assistance to the Palestinians who suffered terribly in this war that Hamas started,” Biden said. “They’ve been through hell. So many innocent people have been killed, so many communities have been destroyed. Palestinian people deserve peace and the right to determine their own futures. Israel deserves peace and real security, and the hostages and their families deserve to be reunited, and so we’re working urgently to close this deal.”

The president also said that the U.S. is in a better position with China, saying, “Many experts were predicting that China’s economy would surpass ours. “…That will not happen. Now, according to the latest predictions, on China’s current course, they will never surpass us, period.”

Biden also warned that the U.S. needed to remain in the lead when it comes to the development of artificial intelligence, a concern that major tech companies have raised as Congress considers new regulation. He also said that the greatest existential threat to the country was climate change, saying that members of the incoming administration were “dead wrong” in denying it and misguided in not valuing clean energy. Trump’s team has signaled that it try to would roll back parts of Biden’s energy policy, including those aimed at supporting the growth of electric vehicles.

Biden’s main farewell speech will be on Wednesday, when he has scheduled an 8 p.m. ET speech in the Oval Office.