Fresh from his visit to Ukraine, U.S. President Joe Biden rallied NATO allies in Poland on Tuesday, proclaiming "unwavering" support for Kyiv and commitments to bolster the alliance's eastern flank against Russia.
Biden used the trip to rally support for Ukraine as the war enters its second year, with no end in sight, and it came on the same day as a speech by Russian President Vladimir Putin suspending a landmark nuclear accord with Washington.
"Appetites of the autocrat cannot be appeased," Biden said to thousands of people at Warsaw's Royal Castle. "They must be opposed. Autocrats only understand one word: no, no, no. No, you will not take my country."
Biden spoke after meeting NATO ally and Polish President Andrzej Duda, a vocal proponent of stronger Western support for Kyiv.
That followed an unannounced trip on Monday to Ukraine, marking the first time in recent memory that a U.S. president made a journey to a warzone not controlled by U.S. troops.
"One year ago, the world was bracing for the fall of Kyiv," Biden said. "I can report: Kyiv stands strong, Kyiv stands proud, it stands tall and, most important, it stands free."
He added: "When President Putin ordered his tanks to roll into Ukraine, he thought we would roll over. He was wrong."
Duda said Biden's visit showed U.S. commitment to maintaining European security and described Biden's stop in Kyiv as an "incredible gesture."
Poland has NATO's longest border with Ukraine and has been the main route in for weapons and out for refugees. The two leaders were expected to have discussed Poland's security and scaling up NATO resources there.
"I call on all European states, NATO states, to show solidarity with Ukraine, to provide military support to Ukraine, so that they have something to fight with," said Duda. "Do not be afraid to provide this support."
Poland was under communist rule for four decades until 1989 and a member of the Moscow-led Warsaw Pact alliance. It is now part of NATO, the 30-member alliance that Moscow regards as an existential threat and which could soon expand to include Sweden and Finland in the aftermath of Russia's Feb. 24, 2022, invasion of Ukraine.
Biden's visit was welcomed by ordinary Poles and by the 2.5 million Ukrainians, mostly women and children refugees from the conflict, now living in the country. Many called for bolder Western support for Kyiv, including the supply of fighter jets, which Biden has so far held back from offering.
"We hope that they (the United States) will increase shipments of arms, that things at the front will improve and that we will win," said Alina Kiiko, 32, a Ukrainian in central Warsaw.
On the Roman Dmowski roundabout in the city centre, a giant advertising screen ran the slogan: "Biden, give F-16 to Ukraine" in English, referring to U.S. fighter jets.
Demonstrators displayed a banner with the same slogan outside Biden's hotel as he left for his meeting with Duda at the Polish presidential palace, where he was met by a military honour guard.
EASTERN FLANK
Before returning to Washington on Wednesday, Biden will meet leaders of the Bucharest Nine, the countries on NATO's eastern flank, to reaffirm support for their security.
All joined the Western military alliance after being dominated by Moscow during the Cold War, and most are now among the strongest supporters of military aid to Ukraine.
Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda's message to Biden will be that his government wants "greater involvement of the U.S. in Europe, NATO's eastern flank and, of course, more aid to Ukraine," his chief foreign policy adviser, Asta Skaisgiryte, told Lithuanian radio on Tuesday.
On Tuesday, Biden disputed Putin's assessment that the West was a threat to Russia, but vowed again to defend "every inch" of NATO territory if it was attacked.
And he confirmed comments by a White House spokesperson who said Washington will this week announce additional sanctions against individuals and companies that are "trying to evade sanctions and backfill Russia's war machine."
While Biden was in Kyiv on Monday, the U.S. State Department announced more support for Ukraine comprising $450 million of artillery ammunition, anti-armour systems and air defence radars, and $10 million for energy infrastructure.
Putin, meanwhile, in his long-awaited address, defended his decision to go to war and vowed to prevail. He also hailed Russia's nuclear arsenal, announced the suspension of the New START arms control treaty with the United States, declared new strategic systems had been put on combat duty, and warned that Moscow could resume nuclear tests.
(Reporting by Steve Holland in Washington, Nandita Bose, Alan Charlish, Pawel Florkiewicz, Anna Koper, Marek Strzelecki and Andrius Sytas in Warsaw; Writing by Steve Holland, Niklas Pollard, Gwladys Fouche and Trevor Hunnicutt; Editing by Peter Graffm Alison Williams and Daniel Wallis)
