President Joe Biden has added a visit to Poland to his trip to Europe this week for urgent discussions with NATO and European allies as Russian forces intensified their firing on cities and trapped populations in a nearly month-old invasion of Ukraine.
According to a statement provided by Biden's press secretary, Jen Psaki, on Sunday night, Biden will go to Brussels first, then to Poland to meet with officials.
Biden Will Discuss Humanitarian Crisis Ukraine Faces
Poland is an important ally in the Ukraine crisis. Thousands of American troops are stationed there, and it has taken in more refugees from Ukraine's conflict - over 2 million - than any other nation in Europe's greatest refugee crisis in decades.
Biden will travel to Warsaw on Saturday for a bilateral meeting with President Andrzej Duda, 12News reported. Biden will speak about how the US is reacting to "the humanitarian and human rights crisis that Russia's illegal and unprovoked war on Ukraine has caused," according to Psaki.
The US president will meet with European leaders on Monday, ahead of his trip, to discuss the war. According to the White House, Chancellor Olaf Scholz of Germany, Prime Minister Mario Draghi of Italy, President Emmanuel Macron of France, and Prime Minister Boris Johnson of the United Kingdom are all slated to attend.
According to the White House, Biden will also hold a conference call with European leaders on Monday at 11 a.m. EST (15:00 a.m. GMT) to discuss their coordinated responses to Russian aggression.
He will also attend a European Council meeting to discuss Ukraine, according to the White House, "including transatlantic efforts to impose economic consequences on Russia, give humanitarian relief to those affected by the bloodshed, and handle other difficulties related to the war."
Ukraine Official Urges Joe Biden to Meet Volodymyr Zelensky
Per Al Jazeera via MSN, Psaki had previously stated that Biden would not be visiting Ukraine during his European trip this week. Since last month, more than 3.3 million people have fled Ukraine, making it Europe's fastest-growing refugee crisis since World War II.
Some of the two million migrants who entered Poland have moved on to other EU nations, according to the UN, but "the bulk is considered to be remaining in Poland."
A senior administration official has proposed that when Joe Biden travels to Europe for the NATO summit on March 24, he is expected to visit his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv.
Biden should show he is "brave" by visiting Zelensky face to face in Ukraine, according to Ihor Zhovka, the Ukrainian president's deputy chief of staff, who told CNN on Thursday that other international leaders have done so. Biden will travel to Brussels to talk with NATO leaders about Russia's invasion of Ukraine, which is now in its third week.
The White House has been a vocal opponent of establishing a no-fly zone in Ukraine, claiming that shooting down Russian planes may lead to a global escalation of the European crisis, as per Newsweek.
