US President Joe Biden’s trip to Warsaw is part of a series of foreign policy talks held by the United States on the anniversary of the outbreak of the war.
According to official information from the White House, US President Joe Biden is not planning a trip to Ukraine during his visit to Poland next week, nor is he planning to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. “A meeting with President Zelenskyy is not planned for this trip,” National Security Council communications director John Kirby said on Friday in Washington.
When asked if the president plans to cross the border into neighboring Ukraine, Kirby said, “No.” For security reasons, these trips are usually not announced in advance. Kirby said stations in other parts of Poland are also not planned.
Jill Biden’s visit after the start of the war
Biden is expected in Poland on Tuesday and Wednesday – just before the first anniversary of the outbreak of war in neighboring Ukraine. There has been speculation in recent weeks that Biden might combine the trip to Poland with a visit to Ukraine. Several heads of state and government, as well as ministers from other countries, had already visited Ukraine in the last months since the beginning of the war – some on several occasions. Several government officials were also there from the US, as was Biden’s wife Jill. The President of the United States has not yet been to Ukraine. It usually has significantly higher security requirements.
Kirby said the president wanted to pledge more support for Ukraine’s trip and also thanked Poland and the Polish people for their contribution to the crisis. Poland has provided Kiev with billions in aid and has taken in more than 1.5 million refugees from Ukraine.
Encounter with Duda
In the Polish capital Warsaw, Biden plans to meet President Andrzej Duda on Tuesday and deliver a speech in front of the Royal Castle in Warsaw. Biden also wants to meet representatives of other Eastern European NATO countries there on Wednesday.
The trip is part of a whole series of US foreign policy talks in the coming days, around the anniversary of the start of the war. US Vice President Kamala Harris and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken are currently at the Munich Security Conference, which focuses on the war in Ukraine. Biden welcomes German Chancellor Olaf Scholz to the White House on March 3. Kirby said Biden also plans to make several phone calls with partners including the heads of government of France, Britain and Italy in the coming week.