Fresh from Kyiv visit, Biden rallies Nato allies in Poland
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US President Joe Biden (left) meeting Polish President Andrzej Duda at the presidential palace in Warsaw, Poland, on Feb 21, 2023.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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WARSAW - Fresh from an unannounced, dramatic visit to Kyiv
On a trip clearly timed to overshadow a major speech by Russian President Vladimir Putin before the anniversary of the invasion, Mr Biden met Polish President Andrzej Duda, one of the most vocal proponents of stronger Western support for Ukraine.
Mr Biden was due to give a speech later,
US support for Ukraine remains strong, he said on Tuesday during talks with Mr Duda in Warsaw.
“As I told (Ukrainian) President (Volodymyr) Zelensky when we spoke in Kyiv yesterday, I can probably say that our support for Ukraine remains unwavering,” Mr Biden said, adding that the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (Nato) is stronger than ever.
He thanked his Polish counterpart for his country’s commitment to supporting the people of Ukraine, calling the relationship between the two neighbouring nations “critical, critical, critical”.
Mr Biden opened his trip on Monday with an unannounced visit to Ukraine, billed as the first time a US president has made such a journey to a country at war without US troops on the ground controlling the area.
Mr Duda told Mr Biden: “Your visit is an important sign of security, a signal of US responsibility for the security of the world and Europe. America can keep the world order.” He added that the Kyiv visit was an “incredible gesture” and showed that the free world has not forgotten Ukraine.
Poland has Nato’s longest border with Ukraine and has been the main route in for weapons and out for refugees. Mr Duda’s foreign policy adviser said the leaders would also discuss Poland’s security and the scaling up of Nato resources there.
“It is no secret that we will talk about increasing the presence, also in terms of infrastructure, of Nato,” Mr Marcin Przydacz told private broadcaster TVN24.
The visit was welcomed by ordinary Poles and by the 2.5 million Ukrainians – mostly women and children refugees from the conflict – now living in Poland. Many called for bolder Western support for Kyiv, including the supply of fighter jets, which Mr Biden has so far held back from offering.
Ms Alina Kiiko, 32, a Ukrainian in central Warsaw, said: “We hope that they (the US) will increase shipments of arms, that things at the front will improve and that we will win.”
On the Roman Dmowski roundabout in the centre of the city, a giant advertising screen ran the slogan: “Biden, give F-16 to Ukraine” in English, referring to US fighter jets.
Demonstrators displayed a banner with the same slogan outside the hotel Mr Biden stayed at overnight as he left for his meeting with Mr Duda in the Polish presidential palace, where he was met by a military honour guard.
Warsaw resident Marian Switala, 70, said he hoped “this conflict will somehow be resolved, and there will be peace in Ukraine and the surrounding area”.
Before returning to Washington on Wednesday, Mr Biden will meet leaders of the Bucharest Nine – the countries on Nato’s eastern flank – to reaffirm support for their security.
While Mr Biden was in Kyiv on Monday, the US State Department announced more support for Ukraine comprising US$450 million (S$602 million) of artillery ammunition, anti-armour systems and air defence radars, and US$10 million for energy infrastructure.
Mr Biden has not, however, approved Ukraine’s request for fighter jets.
Meanwhile, Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda’s message to Mr Biden will be that it wants “greater involvement of the US in Europe, Nato’s eastern flank and, of course, more aid to Ukraine”, his chief foreign policy adviser told Lithuanian radio on Tuesday.
Ms Asta Skaisgiryte said: “Lithuania and other like-minded countries have several requests, which concern air defence, forward defence presence, air defence systems and greater investments in the defence industry.”
Later this week, Washington will announce additional sanctions against individuals and companies that are “trying to evade sanctions and backfill Russia’s war machine”, a White House spokesman said.
Mr Putin, in his long-awaited address, defended his decision to go to war and vowed to prevail. He also brandished Russia’s nuclear arsenal, announced the suspension of a landmark arms control treaty, declared new strategic systems had been put on combat duty and warned that Moscow could resume nuclear tests.
A year ago, Mr Biden warned sceptical allies that a massive build-up of Russian troops along Ukraine’s borders was a precursor to war. At the time, even some within his own government questioned Ukraine’s ability to withstand an invasion.
Instead, Ukraine’s forces held Kyiv and drove Russia back out of some territory it had seized in the early weeks of the war, helped by Western weapons, ammunition and equipment.
The US has sent more than US$24 billion in security assistance, but US officials say the war may continue for many months or even years. REUTERS
