Marin Independent Journal

Biden in Poland: US, allies `will not waver' in Ukraine

- By Aamer Madhani, Zeke Miller and Chris Megerian

President Joe Biden on Tuesday warned of “hard and bitter days ahead” as Russia's invasion of Ukraine nears the one-year mark, but vowed that no matter what, the United States and allies “will not waver” in supporting the Ukrainians.

A day after his surprise visit to Kyiv, Biden used a strongly worded address in neighborin­g Poland to praise allies in Europe for stepping up over the past year and to send a clear message to Russian President Vladimir Putin that “NATO will not be divided, and we will not tire.”

“One year ago, the world was bracing for the fall of Kyiv,” Biden said before a crowd of thousands outside Warsaw's Royal Castle. “I can report: Kyiv stands strong. Kyiv stands proud. It stands tall and, most important, it stands free.”

With Russia and Ukraine each preparing spring offensives, Biden insisted there will be no backing down from what he's portrayed as a global struggle between democracy and autocracy — though polling suggests American support for ongoing military assistance appears to be softening.

“Democracie­s of the world will stand guard over freedom today, tomorrow and forever,” Biden declared. The U.S. and allies will “have Ukraine's back.”

Biden's speech came a day after his unannounce­d trip to Kyiv, where he met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and walked the city streets as an air raid siren blared.

Last year, weeks after Russian forces began their attacks on Ukraine, Biden delivered a harsh condemnati­on of Putin from the gardens of the castle. Speaking Tuesday to a crowd that included Polish citizens and Ukrainian refugees — and millions more following in Ukraine, Russia and around the world — he made his case that Putin's war has been a failure.

“When President Putin ordered his tanks to roll into Ukraine, he thought we would roll over. He was wrong,” Biden said.

The president also declared “the democracie­s of the world have grown stronger” while the world's autocrats — including Putin —

have become weaker.

“Autocrats only understand one word — no, no, no,” Biden said. “No, you will not take my country. No, you will not take my freedom. No, you will not take my future.”

Biden was using the trip to prepare allies for an evermore-complicate­d stage of the war and to reassure allies in the region that the U.S. was committed for the long haul. He met Tuesday with Moldovan President Maia Sandu — who last week claimed Moscow was behind a plot to overthrow her country's government using external saboteurs — and with his host Polish President Andrzej Duda.

“We have to have security in Europe,” Biden said at the presidenti­al palace. “It's that basic, that simple, that consequent­ial.”

He described NATO as “maybe the most consequent­ial alliance in history,” and he said it's “stronger than it's ever been” despite the Russian leader's hopes that it would fracture over the war in Ukraine.

Duda praised the American president's visit to Kyiv as “spectacula­r,” saying it “boosted morale of Ukraine's defenders.”

He said the trip was “a sign that the free world, and its biggest leader, the president of the United States, stands by them.”

On Wednesday, Biden will meet again with Duda along with other leaders of the Bucharest Nine, the easternmos­t members of the NATO military alliance. Ukraine is not a member.

While Biden was in Poland, Putin announced that Moscow would suspend its

participat­ion in the last remaining nuclear arms control pact with the United States.

The New START Treaty caps the number of longrange nuclear warheads countries may deploy and limits the use of missiles that can carry atomic weapons.

Despite his criticisms of Putin, Biden did not mention the START suspension during his speech. And the Russian Foreign Ministry later said that, despite Putin's announceme­nt, it would continue abiding by the treaty's caps.

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.

While Biden is looking to use his whirlwind trip to Europe as a moment of affirmatio­n for Ukraine and allies, the White House has also acknowledg­ed that there is no clear endgame to the war in the near term, and the situation on the ground has become increasing­ly complex.

The administra­tion on Sunday said it has new intelligen­ce suggesting that China, which has generally remained on the sidelines of the conflict, is now considerin­g sending Moscow lethal aid. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said it could become a “serious problem” if Beijing follows through.

Biden and Zelenskyy discussed capabiliti­es that Ukraine needs “to be able to succeed on the battlefiel­d” in the months ahead,

said U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan. Zelenskyy has been pushing the U.S. and European allies to provide fighter jets and long-range missile systems known as ATACMS — which Biden has declined to provide so far. Sullivan declined to comment on whether there was any movement on that during the leaders' talk.

With no quick end in sight for the war, the anniversar­y is a critical moment for Biden to try to bolster European unity and reiterate the West's position that Putin's invasion was a frontal attack on the post-World War II internatio­nal order. The White House hopes the president's visit to Kyiv and Warsaw will help bolster American and global resolve.

In the U.S., a poll published last week by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research showed that support for providing Ukraine with weapons and direct economic assistance is softening. And earlier this month, 11 House Republican­s introduced what they called the “Ukraine fatigue” resolution urging Biden to end military and financial aid to Ukraine, while pushing Ukraine and Russia to come to a peace agreement.

Biden dismissed the notion of waning American support during his visit to Kyiv.

“For all the disagreeme­nt we have in our Congress on some issues, there is significan­t agreement on support for Ukraine,” he said. He described the conflict as “about freedom of democracy at large.”

 ?? EVAN VUCCI — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS ?? President Joe Biden stands with children after delivering a speech marking the one-year anniversar­y of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on Tuesday during a visit to the Royal Castle Gardens in Warsaw.
EVAN VUCCI — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS President Joe Biden stands with children after delivering a speech marking the one-year anniversar­y of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on Tuesday during a visit to the Royal Castle Gardens in Warsaw.

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