During this first meeting, Biden announced that he was ready to take in a maximum of 100,000 Ukrainian refugees and deliver an additional billion dollars, which experts see as a way to increase the armed conflict in that country.
The President also said he would sanction 400 Russian citizens and entities, including 328 State Duma deputies and 48 large public companies.
Washington’s priority will be to welcome those Ukrainians “who have relatives in the United States,” said a US official source quoted by the media.
The US President faces perhaps the most important itinerary since arriving at the White House, and at the end of the appointments he will travel directly to Poland as part of the recent statements by that country’s President.
Polish head of state Andrzej Duda said he would increase the military budget as much as needed and on the 18th passed the Homeland Defense Law to double the army’s total to almost 400,000 soldiers.
Poland is a key country geographically as it borders Ukraine to the east and is NATO’s easternmost territory.
Biden arrived in Brussels the day before to convince his allies of the need to impose fresh sanctions on Russia after four waves of punitive measures specifically designed to hit that country’s economy.
The United States currently has about 100,000 troops in Europe, about 40,000 of them under the direct command of NATO.
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