Biden heads to Poland where he will refugees cast out by Putin's Ukraine invasion

President Joe Biden landed in Poland Friday, where he will get a first-hand look at the humanitarian crisis facing Ukrainian refugees and visit a fabled division helping bolster NATO’s eastern flank amid Russia’s invasion.

Air Force One touched down in Rzeszow, Poland, after Biden left behind talks with NATO members and key allies over efforts to sanction Russia, feed Europe’s energy needs, and arm Ukraine for its fight against Russia.

Underlining the deadly serious reasons for his visit, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan told reporters traveling with the president that the U.S. is planning for the possibility that Russia tries to strike at allied efforts to arm Ukraine, either inside NATO territory or by hitting convoys inside Ukraine.

‘We are doing contingency planning for the possibility that Russia chooses to strike NATO territory in that context or in any other context,’ Sullivan said. ‘And the President has been about as clear as one can be about his absolute determination to respond decisively alongside the other members of our alliance, if Russia attacks NATO,’ he added. 

He also repeated a statement that Russia would ‘pay a price’ if it uses chemical weapons on Ukraine – after NATO allies discussed the issue in their meetings.   

‘I will just say with respect to any use of weapons of mass destruction, nuclear, chemical, biological: Russia would pay a severe price for the use of those weapons as the President has previously said. We have spoken to our allies. We’ve done contingency planning within our own government, and we have communicated directly to the Russians and I’m not going to speak further to it,’ Sullivan said.

And Sullivan clarified a comment by President Biden Friday, when he said the U.S. would respond ‘in kind’ if Russia used chemical weapons in Ukraine. He noted that Biden also said the U.S. would ‘respond accordingly.’

‘The United States has no intention of using chemical weapons, period, under any circumstances,’ he said.

U.S. officials warned in recent weeks about Russia’s potential use of the weapons, after saying Russian officials were engaging in misinformation that could signal a potential ‘false flag’ operation. 

The second and last stop of his trip will feature a mix of diplomacy, gestures of military might, and Biden’s reputation for consoling and grieving with those who have suffered loss – in this case some of the estimated 2 million Ukrainians who have fled to Poland since Russia launched its invasion last month.

It also puts him in touch with an important ally that has been bearing massive costs from Putin’s invasion – and has been pushing a tough line amid its own past experiences with Russian aggression.

Biden boarded Air Force One in Brussels without speaking to reporters, after fielding questions Thursday in a press conference that was suddenly moved up on his packed schedule.

It is the final stop on Biden’s hastily-arranged Europe trip where he attended a trio of emergency summits in Brussels to discuss the fallout of the invasion, while trying to maintain allied unity to pressure Russian President Vladimir Putin to reverse himself.

‘Our unity is rock solid,’ Biden said after a meeting with European Council President Charles Michel late Thursday. 

He said Putin’s ‘overwhelming objective is to demonstrate that democracies cannot function in the 21st century’ and sought to ‘break up NATO.’

Biden will travel to Rzeszów, bringing him to within 50 miles from Poland’s border with Ukraine, where fierce fighting is underway as U.S. and allied-supplied Ukrainian fighters seek to push back Russians from positions on the outskirts of cities and towns.

Biden spoke briefly about what he might encounter at a press conference Thursday, referencing his past trips to war-zones during his career.

‘It’s devastating. The thing you look at the most is you see these young children, you see children without parents that are in those camps or in – or refugees. You see women and husbands – men and women who are completely lost,’ Biden continued. 

‘You see the look — that blank look on their face, that absolute feeling of, “My God, where am I? What’s going to happen to me?” 

Upon his arrival at Rzeszów-Jasionka Airport, Biden will be greeted by Polish President Andrzej Duda and receive a briefing on the humanitarian response to the war. 

It will be a demonstration of a growing bond between the two leaders brought on by Russia’s war, despite Duda’s past steps to crack down on the media and LGBT people, in moves with a shade of Putinism. 

The European Union has accused Duda’s right-wing ruling party of rolling back judicial independence and cutting back on media freedoms. 

The group Freedom House has labeled Poland a ‘semi-consolidated democracy.’

He’ll also meet with service members from the 82nd Airborne Division in Rzeszów before traveling to Warsaw in the evening.

He will meet with troops ‘who have been deployed to Poland to reassure our NATO ally and to deter further aggression on the Eastern flank,’ White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan told reporters en route to Poland.

He could announce permanent troop increases for Eastern Europe, NBC reported.  

Poland has taken in more than 2 million of the 3.5 million people who have fled the Ukraine. 

Biden said he would try to meet with some of them while he was on the ground.

‘I’ve been to refugee camps, I’ve been in war zones for the last 15 years, and it’s devastating,’ Biden said at his Thursday press conference. 

He said meeting with refugees in Poland would ‘reinforce my commitment to have the United States make sure we are a major piece of dealing with the relocation of all those folks.’ 

Biden’s trip comes a day after the United States pledged to accept up 100,000 refugees fleeing the war in the Ukraine.

Capping off Biden’s trip will be what the White House is billing as a ‘significant speech.’

‘He will give a major address tomorrow that will speak to the stakes of this moment, the urgency of the challenge that lies ahead, what the conflict of Ukraine means for the world,’ said White House National Security advisor Jake Sullivan.

In addition to welcoming more of the displaced, the Biden administration also announced more than $1 billion in new funding toward humanitarian assistance, particularly toward countries like Poland, which have been overwhelmed with refugees in need.

The funding will provide food, shelter, clean water, medical supplies and other forms of assistance, according to the White House.

His departure follows an announcement with European Union President Ursula von der Leyen of a deal on Friday to secure additional liquefied natural gas supplies for Europe in order to help wean the continent off it its dangerous addiction to Russian energy.

As part of the plan, the U.S. and other nations will boost the supply of liquefied natural gas to European countries by the end of 2022 with at least 15 billion cubic meters, the White House announced. Even larger shipments would be delivered in the future.

But it represents just a fraction of what Europe needs. And there are serious limitations on the ability of the U.S. to meet Europe’s energy needs. As of now, the U.S. doesn’t have enough terminals to ship the energy, and Europe doesn’t have enough to receive it, the New York Times reported.

Russia provides nearly 40 per cent of Europe’s natural gas. 

Biden’s Poland stop comes the day after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has scolded Europe for being too ‘late’ imposing sanctions on Russia and said Putin would ‘never’ have invaded if measures had been ‘preventative’.

He also pleaded with NATO allies to provide ‘one per cent’ of their jets and tanks to allow Ukraine to fight defense he has repeatedly described as not just of Ukraine, but of Europe and life itself. 

The Ukrainian President made the comments during a late-night address to the European Council summit in Brussels in which he outlined the destruction Russia has caused his country. 

He thanked Europe for imposing sanctions on Russia but said they were too late to stop Putin’s troops invading Ukraine.

‘You have imposed sanctions and we are grateful. These are strong steps,’ he said.

‘But it was a little late, because if it had been preventative, Russia would never have started a war.’

Part of Biden’s meetings on Thursday were directed at trying to get European allies to impose harsher financial sanctions. But the continent, which is more dependent on Russian energy supplies, has been hesitant to go as far as the United States would like.  

The Ukraine leader said Russia ‘would not have created a gas crisis’ in Europe if the Nord Stream 2 gas line, which runs from Russia to Germany, had been blocked earlier. 

Germany eventually halted certification of the $10 billion natural gas pipeline after German Chancellor Olaf Scholz long resisted including it as a possible sanction if Russia invaded Ukraine.

Biden and EU President Ursula von der Leyen announced a deal on Friday to secure additional liquefied natural gas supplies for Europe in order to help wean the continent off it its dangerous addiction to Russian energy.

As part of the plan, the U.S. and other nations will boost the supply of liquefied natural gas to European countries by the end of 2022 with at least 15 billion cubic meters, the White House announced. Even larger shipments would be delivered in the future.

It’s targeted at hurting Vladimir Putin’s war in the Ukraine with Biden noting the Russian president is using ‘the profits to drive his war machine.’ 

Biden said the deal ‘it’s going to put us on a much stronger strategic footing.’ 

Russia supplies 40 percent of the EU’s collective natural gas needs, 27 percent of its oil imports and 46 percent of coal imports.  

A new deal to boost US gas shipments to Europe could clear the path for allies to sign on to tougher sanctions. 

European countries remain divided, however, on whether to sanction Russian oil and gas directly, a move already taken by the United States. An EU embargo would require unanimous approval from all 27 member states. 

In his speech, Zelensky also called on neighbouring nations to approve Ukraine’s request to join the European Union, adding: ‘Here I am, asking you not to be late. Please.’

The leader’s address came exactly a month after Russian troops invaded Ukraine.