Washington A palace floodlit with spotlights, a stage fifty meters wide and thousands of cheering visitors in the open air: in Warsaw, US President Joe Biden conjured up the “resistance of the free world” against the Russian invasion of Ukraine. “I have a simple message: freedom,” said Biden in the garden of the Royal Castle in the Polish capital. “Ukraine will never fall to Russia, ever,” the US President promised.
The US is leading a global coalition in support of Ukraine and has approved nearly $30 billion in military aid to Ukraine. Biden had traveled to Kiev and Warsaw shortly before a historic date: This Friday, February 24th, marks the first anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Biden, on the other hand, wanted to send a message of triumph in Warsaw, representing Ukraine’s continued resistance – and the cohesion of the Western military alliance NATO. “An attack on one is an attack on all,” Biden said. “We will defend every inch of Ukraine.”
The White House had previously emphasized that Biden’s trip to Ukraine and his visit to Poland were by no means intended as a “head-to-head race” against Putin. The US wants to avoid a military conflict with Russia, for example by not sending any fighter jets to Ukraine. But symbolically, Biden’s appearance was a direct response to the Russian president.
Thousands of people followed the US President’s speech in front of the Warsaw Royal Castle.
(Photo: AP)
“Putin didn’t see it coming,” said the US President in Warsaw. “One year after the start of this senseless war, Kiev stands strong, proud and free.” Democracies around the world are on the rise, “autocrats are becoming weaker.”
Putin previously announced his country would suspend the New Start treaty, which limits the number of US and Russian nuclear weapons. Putin made it clear that there would be no withdrawal. “It is impossible to defeat our country on the battlefield.” The West, said Putin, “started the war. We did everything to stop him.”
Direct appeal to Russian citizens
Biden countered at times and addressed the Russian population: “I am now speaking to the people of Russia. We don’t want to attack, as Putin said today. This war is not a necessity but a tragedy. It’s Putin’s decision, he wanted this war. He could end it immediately. Ukraine is defending itself, so we make sure it can defend itself.”
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The symbolism of the Biden appearance alone should differentiate itself from the warlord Putin. The Kubicki Arcades, where Biden spoke, are among the few parts of the royal palace that survived World War II. Biden addressed people with glow sticks and American and Polish flags, while Putin appeared in front of the parliament in Moscow.
Biden made a surprise visit to Ukraine the day before. Biden was the first US President ever to travel to a country at war that does not host US soldiers in order to secure the visit. The fact that Biden took this risk and that he appeared in Poland for the second time in a year shows what is at stake in the Ukraine war from the US perspective.
The US President also moved outside of his “comfort zone” with his Warsaw appeal: Speeches in front of large audiences are not one of his strengths, and he only made a few appearances in front of a mass audience in the midterms election campaign last November.
But at a sensitive time in the war, Washington appears to want to pull out all the stops, at least on a diplomatic level. In the past few days, the Americans have launched a veritable mediation offensive at the Munich Security Conference in order to ensure Western support for the war-torn country in the future. On Thursday and Friday the United Nations will be fighting for a new Ukraine resolution in New York, with the USA once again taking the lead.
In Washington, the president’s top advisors currently see no clear scenario for an end to the Ukraine war, and the situation on the battlefield is becoming increasingly complex. “I think it’s wise to prepare for a long war,” admitted Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who is traveling to Washington next week, in a CNN interview.
Axis Russia-China is driving Biden’s advisors
What worries Biden’s top advisor in the White House is the unpredictable consequences of the war. The US government is increasingly warning of military cooperation between China and Russia. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Sunday the partnership between Beijing and Moscow could become a “serious problem”. As the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday, Chinese President Xi Jinping is planning a visit to the Kremlin in the near future.
Connoisseurs of Biden see the Ukraine war as a turning point in his presidency. The crisis has encouraged Biden to want to run for re-election again, according to Washington.
But Biden has also become more cautious as the war has dragged on. Barely a year ago he was indirectly calling for regime change in Moscow. “For God’s sake,” Biden proclaimed in Warsaw at the time, “this man cannot stay in power.”
Biden did not choose similar words this time. Apparently, the White House considers the risk of being drawn into a direct conflict with Moscow to be too great.
In this mixed situation, Washington sees it as all the more important to gather the allies around it – and to make it clear to the Eastern European NATO countries in particular that they can be sure of American protection. Biden’s visit was therefore received euphorically in Poland. The speech was broadcast live by all major TV channels, and thousands of people lined the route of the presidential column throughout the day, despite the stormy and rainy weather.
As Polish-born US journalist Marek Walkuski described, Polish media have reported little else for days, broadcasting documentaries about Biden’s White House politics, personal life and hobbies. According to polls, Biden is the most popular leader in Poland behind Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Biden visits Warsaw
Polish President Andrzej Duda thanked Biden profusely in Warsaw. The visit was a “sign to the world that Poland is safe and that the President of the United States is with us”.
On Wednesday, Biden will meet with the heads of state and government of the “Bucharest Nine”, the NATO countries in Eastern Europe, which, in addition to Poland, also include Romania, Bulgaria, the Baltic states, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia. The group was founded in 2014 after the Russian annexation of Crimea.
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