Biden heads to Poland following emergency summits in Brussels
CNN
By Maegan Vazquez, CNN
President Joe Biden will travel to Poland on Friday, his second stop on a last-minute trip through Europe aimed at coordinating the West’s response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The President’s day begins in Brussels, where he’ll meet with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen before departing for Poland.
Upon his arrival at Rzeszów-Jasionka Airport, Biden will be greeted by Polish President Andrzej Duda and receive a briefing on the humanitarian response to the war. He’ll meet with service members from the 82nd Airborne Division in Rzeszów before traveling to Warsaw in the evening.
On Saturday, the White House says Biden will hold a bilateral meeting with Duda to discuss how the US and allies are responding to the refugee crisis that has ensued as a result of the war. He’ll also deliver remarks before returning to Washington.
Biden’s travel to Poland comes after meetings on Thursday in Brussels, where he attended a slate of emergency summits, announced new actions — such as sanctions against hundreds of members of Russia’s parliament and a commitment to admit 100,000 refugees fleeing Ukraine — and conferred with global leaders on how the world will respond if Russia deploys a chemical, biological or nuclear weapon.
The White House has said the Poland visit is intended to highlight the massive refugee crisis that has ensued since Russia’s war in Ukraine began a month ago.
The President confirmed on Thursday that he hopes to meet with Ukrainian refugees while in Poland. It’s not clear, however, when or where those potential meetings would take place.
More than 3.5 million refugees have now fled Ukraine, according to data from the United Nations refugee agency released on Tuesday. A vast majority of those refugees have fled to Ukraine’s western neighbors across Europe.
Poland, which borders Ukraine to the west, has registered more than 2 million Ukrainian refugees crossing into the country. However, the number of refugees staying in Poland is lower, with many continuing on in their journey to other countries.
Earlier this month during Vice President Kamala Harris’ trip to Poland, Duda personally asked the vice president to speed up and simplify the procedures allowing Ukrainians with family in the US to come to the country. He also warned Harris that his country’s resources were being badly strained by the influx of refugees, even as Poland welcomes them with open arms.
The White House says that since February 24, the US has provided more than $123 million to assist countries neighboring Ukraine and the European Union to address the refugee influx, including $48 million in Poland.
During a news conference on Thursday, Biden told reporters he didn’t think getting a firsthand look at the refugee crisis while in Poland would necessarily change his response.
“What it will do (is) it will reinforce my commitment to have the United States make sure we are a major piece of dealing with the relocation of all those folks, as well as humanitarian assistance needed both inside Ukraine and outside Ukraine,” the President said.
Biden brought up that he has visited war zones, saying he understood the plight of refugees.
“I’ve been in refugee camps. I’ve been in war zones for the last 15 years. And it’s — it’s devastating,” he said.
Biden also said the refugee influx is “not something that Poland or Romania or Germany should carry on their own.”
“This is an international responsibility. And the United States, as … one of the leaders in the international community, has an obligation to be engaged — to be engaged and do all we can to ease the suffering and pain of innocent women and children, and men, for that matter, throughout — throughout Ukraine and those who have made it across the border,” Biden continued.
The Poland trip also comes two weeks after the US rejected Poland’s proposals to facilitate the transfer its MiG-29 fighter jets to Ukraine.
The US rejected Poland’s proposals over fears that the US and NATO could be perceived as taking an escalatory step, further fomenting conflict between the alliance and Russia — which adamantly opposes Ukraine’s ambitions to join the NATO alliance.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has repeatedly requested more aircraft for the invasion, making another appeal to NATO leaders on Thursday.
During a virtual address Thursday, Zelensky asked NATO members for “1% of all your planes,” later adding, “You have thousands of fighter jets, but we have not been given one yet.”
Despite Zelensky’s plea, a senior US official told CNN later on Thursday that the US position on the fighter jet issue has not changed.
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CNN’s Kaitlan Collins contributed to this report.
