US President Joe Biden and Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky meet in the Oval Office of the White House, in Washington, DC on December 21, 2022. – Zelensky is in Washington to meet with US President Joe Biden and address Congress — his first trip abroad since Russia invaded in February. (Photo by Brendan Smialowski / AFP)
President Joe Biden will mark this month’s anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine with a visit to NATO ally Poland, the White House said Friday. Biden will travel February 20-22, meeting with Polish President Andrzej Duda and also members of the Bucharest Nine, a group of NATO members in eastern Europe, said Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre.
He will “discuss our bilateral cooperation as well as our collective efforts to support Ukraine and bolster NATO’s deterrence,” she said.
Biden will give a speech to mark the February 24 “one-year anniversary of Russia’s brutal and unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, addressing how the United States has rallied the world to support the people of Ukraine as they defend their freedom and democracy,” she said.
Biden’s trip will coincide with a state of the nation address in Moscow by Russian President Vladimir Putin on February 21.
Poland is the main hub for refugees and the funneling in of Western military aid, much of it coming from the United States. However, Biden is considered unlikely to visit neighboring Ukraine, due to security concerns.
Numerous European leaders have visited the Ukrainian capital Kyiv. Biden’s wife, First Lady Jill Biden, made a surprise visit in May 2022 to western Ukraine.
AFP
