POTUS meets Polish president, reaffirms US dedication to European security
President Joe Biden reaffirmed the United States’ dedication to European security as he met with Polish President Andrzej Duda on Tuesday, part of a series of consultations with allies to prepare for an even more complicated stage of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
“We have to have security in Europe,” he said at the presidential palace in Warsaw. “It’s that basic, that simple, that consequential.”
Biden described NATO as “maybe the most consequential alliance in history,” and he said it’s “stronger than its ever been” despite Russian President Vladimir Putin’s hopes that it would fracture over the war in Ukraine.
Biden arrived in Warsaw on Monday after paying an unannounced visit to Kyiv. Duda praised Biden’s trip as “spectacular,” saying it “boosted morale of Ukraine’s defenders.”
He said the visit was “a sign that the free world, and its biggest leader, the president of the United States, stands by them.”
Biden is slated to deliver a speech on the war later Tuesday, and on Wednesday he plans to meet again with Duda along with other leaders of the Bucharest Nine, a group of the easternmost members of NATO military alliance.
The conflict in Ukraine — the most significant war in Europe since World War II — has already left tens of thousands of people dead, devastated Ukraine’s infrastructure system and damaged the global economy.
In his address, Biden is expected to highlight the commitment of Poland and other allies to Ukraine over the past year when he speaks from the gardens of Warsaw’s Royal Castle. Last March, speaking from Warsaw, Biden delivered a forceful and highly personal condemnation of Putin just weeks after the start of the war.
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