Polish President Andrzej Duda is expected to urge President Biden to increase the number of permanent US troops in countries along Russia’s borders this week during his Warsaw visit, a top diplomat in the US told Fox News Digital .
Biden’s visit follows Monday’s surprise trip to Ukraine, where he met with President Zelenskyy. All of this comes just days before the one-year anniversary of the war in Ukraine, and Poland is looking for a small acknowledgment for the role it has played in helping Ukraine.
“I think one of the purposes of President Biden’s visit to Poland is actually … to emphasize US support for Poland,” said Adrian Kubicki, Poland’s consul general in New York. “[It] It’s also important that President Biden listens to what we have to say to improve our security.”
Polish President Andrzej Duda and President Biden inspect the Polish Guard at the Presidential Palace March 26, 2022 in Warsaw, Poland. (Photo by Omar Marques/Getty Images)
PRESIDENT BIDEN MAKES SURPRISE VISIT TO KIEV, UKRAINE, TO MEET PRESIDENT ZELENSKYY
Along with the US, Poland has been one of the leading providers of defense and humanitarian aid to Ukraine since the beginning of the war.
Warsaw has not only taken in most of the Ukrainian refugees fleeing the war-torn nation, but also spearheaded NATO negotiations to push for newer and faster shipments of equipment, including tanks, to Ukraine earlier this year.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy (right) and President Biden shake hands during their meeting in Kiev, Ukraine February 20, 2023. (Press Office of the President of Ukraine via AP)
Nearly a dozen nations have pledged tanks to Kiev, and Poland is now working with allied nations to see if fighter jets could be next on the defense aid route.
However, Kubicki pointed out that Poland, as well as all Baltic states close to Russia and Ukraine, are threatened by Russian aggression.
“We would like to see an increased, sustained presence of US troops right on the doorstep of the ongoing war – namely in Poland,” he said. “US troops should be a permanent presence in our countries given the situation… and what could potentially happen in the future if, God forbid, Russia is successful in Ukraine.”
A supporter greets U.S. soldiers of the U.S. Army’s 3rd Squadron, 2nd Cavalry Regiment at the Czech-Polish border March 29, 2015 in Harrachov, Czech Republic. Polish President Duda expected to urge President Biden to increase the permanent number of US troops in countries bordering Ukraine and Russia. (Photo by Matej Divizna/Getty Images)
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Russia has threatened since the war began to expand its aggression beyond Ukraine’s borders, targeting Moldova, which lies west of Ukraine and where a contingent of Russian sympathizers remain in an area known as Transnistria.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said earlier this month that Kiev had foiled a Russian plot to overthrow the Moldovan government – a claim the Moldovan government backed up – reigniting concerns about Moscow’s general aggression towards Europe.
Kubicki said Poland believes Russia is unable to overthrow Kiev, as Russian President Vladimir Putin initially intended, or invade another European nation. However, he warned that Moscow was playing the long game.
Soldiers from the 82nd Airborne Division listen to instructions before being deployed to Poland February 14, 2022 at Fort Bragg, Fayetteville, North Carolina ahead of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. (Photo by Melissa Sue Gerrits/Getty Images)
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“Putin has time,” he said. “We know for the long term – Poland has actually learned the hard way from our history – that this ambition…[is] still valid. It doesn’t have to happen right away.
“If we don’t put a stop to it [to] After this egregious invasion of Ukraine, we are 100 percent sure that Putin will eventually try to invade other countries,” Kubicki warned.