WARSAW, Poland (AP) – President Joe Biden reaffirmed the United States’ commitment to European security when he met with Polish President Andrzej Duda on Tuesday, who was part of a series of consultations with allies to prepare for an even more complicated one Phase of Russia’s invasion to prepare Ukraine.
“We need security in Europe,” he said in the Presidential Palace in Warsaw. “It’s so basic, so simple, so consistent.”
Biden described NATO as “perhaps the most consequential alliance in history” and said it was “stronger than ever,” despite Russian President Vladimir Putin’s hopes that the war in Ukraine would shatter it.
Biden arrived in Warsaw on Monday after paying an unannounced visit to Kiev. Duda hailed Biden’s trip as “spectacular” and said it “boosted the morale of Ukraine’s defenders.”
He said the visit was “a sign that the free world and its greatest leader, the President of the United States, stand by you.”
Biden is scheduled to deliver a speech on the war later Tuesday, and on Wednesday he plans to meet again with Duda alongside other leaders of the Bucharest Nine, a group of the NATO military alliance’s easternmost members.
The conflict in Ukraine – the most significant war in Europe since World War II – has already claimed tens of thousands of lives, devastated Ukraine’s infrastructure system and damaged the global economy.
In his address, Biden is expected to highlight Poland’s and other allies’ commitment to Ukraine over the past year, speaking from the gardens of Warsaw’s Royal Castle. Last March, just a few weeks after the war began, Biden strongly and personally condemned Putin from Warsaw.
White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said Tuesday’s speech was “vintage Joe Biden” and that the Democratic president will state that the actions democracies take in the years to come will resonate for years to come.
Biden is scheduled to speak on the day that Putin delivered his long-delayed State of the Union address, in which he announced Moscow would suspend its involvement in the last remaining nuclear arms control pact with the US.
The so-called New START treaty limits the number of long-range nuclear warheads they can deploy and limits the use of missiles capable of carrying nuclear weapons.
Sullivan said Biden’s address would not be “sort of head-to-head” with Putin’s address.
“This is not a rhetorical contest with others,” he said. “This is an affirmative statement of values, a vision of what the world we are both trying to build and defend should look like.”
While Biden wants to use his whirlwind trip to Europe as a moment of reassurance for Ukraine and its allies, the White House has also emphasized that there is no clear end to the war in the short term and the situation on the ground is becoming increasingly complex.
The government announced on Sunday that it has new information suggesting China, which has remained on the brink of conflict, is now considering sending deadly aid to Moscow. Foreign Minister Antony Blinken said it could become a “serious problem” if Beijing persevered.
Biden and Zelenskyy discussed capabilities that Ukraine needs in the coming months “to be successful on the battlefield,” Sullivan said. Zelenskyy has urged US and European allies to provide fighter jets and long-range missile systems called ATACMS — which Biden has so far refused. Sullivan declined to comment on whether anything had moved on the matter during the leaders’ call.
With no end to the war in sight, the anniversary is a critical moment for Biden to try to strengthen European unity and reiterate that Putin’s invasion was a frontal assault on the post-World War II international order. The White House hopes the President’s visit to Kiev and Warsaw will help bolster American and global resolve.
In the US, a poll released last week by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research shows that support for arms and direct economic aid to Ukraine is waning. And earlier this month, 11 House Republicans introduced a resolution they dubbed “Ukraine Fatigue,” calling on Biden to halt military and financial aid to Ukraine while urging Ukraine and Russia to reach a peace deal.
Biden dismissed the notion of dwindling American support during his visit to Kiev.
“Despite all the disagreements we have in our Congress on some issues, there is a significant agreement on supporting Ukraine,” he said in Kyiv. “It’s not just about freedom in Ukraine. … It’s about the freedom of democracy in general.”
Ahead of the trip, the White House highlighted Poland’s efforts to support Ukraine. More than 1.5 million Ukrainian refugees have settled in Poland since the war began, and millions more have transited through Poland on their way to other countries. Poland has also provided $3.8 billion in military and humanitarian assistance to Ukraine, according to the White House.
The Biden administration announced last summer that it would set up a permanent US garrison in Poland, creating a permanent American foothold on NATO’s eastern flank.
“The truth is that the United States needs Poland and NATO as much as NATO needs the United States,” Biden told Duda.
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Miller reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Monika Scislowska in Warsaw and Evan Vucci in Kiev, and Chris Megerian and Kevin Freking in Washington contributed to this report.