Now the US government wants to send a signal of strength both to Vladimir Putin and to its own allies and demonstrate the US will to lead the Western alliance. Biden, the White House said on Friday, would fly to Poland immediately before the anniversary and put the “brutal invasion” in the focus of world publicity.
From February 20 to 22, according to the schedule, Biden will meet with Polish President Andrzej Duda and the heads of state and government of the “Bucharest Nine”, NATO allies in Eastern Europe. These include Bulgaria, the Czech Republic and Estonia, among others, the group was founded in 2014 after the Russian annexation of Crimea.
Biden will pledge his “unwavering support” for Ukraine in Warsaw, it said.
It initially remained unclear whether Biden would visit Ukraine for the first time since the beginning of the war, as had several European heads of state and government. In May last year, First Lady Jill Biden entered Ukraine, near the Slovakian border, and delegations from the US Congress also regularly fly to Kiev.
Avoid direct conflict with Putin at all costs
Biden’s appearance at the Munich Security Conference is not yet on the agenda, where Vice President Kamala Harris is to represent the United States. The Ukraine contact group and the NATO defense ministers are also meeting this Tuesday in Brussels. In the coming weeks, Ukraine’s allies are likely to intensify their efforts to find common strategies, as there are increasing signs of a major Russian offensive around the anniversary.
Poland is a key NATO ally for the US, the country is home to thousands of American soldiers and serves as a hub for Western arms transfers to Ukraine. Biden’s visit to Poland is strategically wise, said Peter Rough, director of the Europe Center at the conservative Washington think tank Hudson Institute.
“Whenever this war ends, Poland and Ukraine will probably have some of the most powerful armed forces in Europe. They form the nucleus of a new bloc of Eastern European states that is strong with American backing,” said ex-President George W. Bush’s former adviser.
Biden visited Poland in March 2022, shortly after the outbreak of war, and demanded that Putin “cannot stay in power”. The White House said at the time that the US President did not want to call for regime change. The quick clarification made clear how keen Washington is to avoid a direct conflict between Russia and the United States.
Biden visited Warsaw just a few weeks after the start of the Ukraine war.
(Photo: IMAGO/newspix)
This year, the President wants to “speak about the determination and unity of the international community in supporting Ukraine,” said John Kirby, White House spokesman for the National Security Council. Biden delivered a similar message in his State of the Union address. “We will stand by as long as it takes,” the US President told the US Congress last week. America has “united NATO and built a global coalition”.
Selenski calls for fighter jets, the West hesitates
The visit to Poland comes at a sensitive time. The US and Europe are bracing for a long, harsh winter for Ukraine. “Until negotiations are even remotely realistic, there is no quick scenario for an end to the war,” explains expert Rough. “The goal of the US administration is to put Ukraine in a strong negotiating position, whenever these talks may come and under whatever circumstances.”
But the ideas about the western commitment to Ukraine differ. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has called for more military aid and modern weapons, including fighter jets, to repel Russian advances. Last week Zelenski visited London, Paris and Brussels to present his concerns personally.
Shortly before Christmas he flew to Washington and appeared before the US Congress. While the British and French leaders are open to sending fighter jets, the US and Germany oppose fighter jets. In January, Great Britain, Germany, the USA and other countries agreed to supply main battle tanks.
The United States has already provided Ukraine with around $27 billion in aid.
(Photo: AP)
Since the war broke out, the US has approved around $27 billion in military aid to Ukraine, including combat vehicles, military trucks, mine-resistant vehicles and the Patriot missile defense system. However, parts of the Republicans, who have dominated the House of Representatives in the US Congress since January, want to block aid to Ukraine. In the dispute over raising the debt limit, the defense budget could become a bargaining chip.
However, there are also enough Republicans for whom the commitment does not go far enough and who consider the fighter jets to be absolutely necessary. The longer the war lasts, the more Biden has to campaign for support from the population: so far, a majority of US citizens have supported the funds for Ukraine, but according to surveys, support is falling.
For the Biden administration, any decision on Ukraine is a balancing act. For example, the United States does not want to send any longer-range weapons that can penetrate deep into Russia to the country at war. Because that could pull the US and its allies into a direct conflict with Putin. “That would blow up NATO,” Biden once said.
Still, the White House is keeping its options open. In Poland, the President will “make it clear that additional aid for Ukraine will come from the United States,” said spokesman Kirby.
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