President Biden arrived in Poland on Monday to reaffirm the United States and NATO’s support for Ukraine, following an unannounced visit to Kyiv, where he marked the one-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion with a show of solidarity.
Before departing for Poland, the president met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to reaffirm the US commitment to the Ukrainian people and to announce a new round of $460 million in security assistance.
“One year later, Kyiv stands. Ukraine is still standing. Democracy endures. America and the rest of the world are rooting for you. Kyiv has stolen a piece of my heart “Mr. Biden explained.
Mr. Biden and a small group of aides spent about six hours in Kyiv before leaving on Monday afternoon local time. Due to security concerns, White House officials initially declined to discuss the logistics of their transportation, but journalists traveling with the party later stated that the group traveled by train. Mr. Biden had already planned to visit Warsaw to meet with NATO allies in Eastern Europe and deliver remarks about Russia’s invasion.
Mr. Biden said in a statement that he was looking forward to “traveling on to Poland to meet President Duda and the leaders of our Eastern Flank Allies, as well as deliver remarks on how the US will continue to rally the world to support the people of Ukraine and the core values of human rights and dignity in the UN Charter that unite us worldwide.”
Poland, a NATO ally, has been a staunch supporter of Ukraine, providing both security and humanitarian aid. Millions of Ukrainian refugees have crossed the border, and the country has provided billions of dollars in weapons and other aid to Zelenskyy’s government.
Mr. Biden is scheduled to meet with Polish President Andrzej Duda on Tuesday to discuss US-Polish cooperation as well as efforts to support Ukraine and NATO. Mr. Biden and Duda first met in March 2022, when Mr. Biden returned to Poland.
On “Face the Nation” on Sunday, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki stated that the Polish government is in talks with the Biden administration about increasing US troop levels in his country and establishing a “more permanent” military presence. Approximately 11,000 US troops are currently stationed in the country on a rotating basis.
Mr. Biden will then speak about his administration’s efforts to rally the world in support of Ukraine, reiterating that the United States “will continue to stand with the people of Ukraine for as long as it takes,” according to the White House.
The president will meet with leaders of the so-called Bucharest Nine, a group of NATO members on the alliance’s eastern front, as well as NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on Wednesday.
The US president’s visit to Europe also coincides with new concerns, publicly expressed by Secretary of State Antony Blinken, that China is considering providing Russia with lethal aid to bolster its efforts in Ukraine.
“We’ve seen them provide non-lethal assistance to Russia for use in Ukraine,” Blinken said on “Face the Nation.” “Based on the information we have, we are concerned that they are considering providing lethal support, and we have made it very clear to them that this would cause a serious problem for us and in our relationship.”
According to Blinken, the US has been concerned “from day one” about the possibility of China providing lethal support to Ukraine, including “everything from ammunition to the weapons themselves.”
This week, China’s top diplomat will travel to Moscow. In a statement issued over the weekend, the country’s foreign ministry stated that the partnership between Russia and China “is built on the basis of non-alliance, non-confrontation, and non-targeting of third countries,” and criticized the US for “finger-pointing or even coercion targeting China-Russia relations.”
