WARSAW: Fresh from an unannounced visit to Ukraine, President Joe Biden rallied NATO allies in Poland on Tuesday, proclaiming “unwavering” support for Kyiv and a commitment to bolstering the alliance’s eastern flank.
“One year ago, the world was bracing for the fall of Kyiv,” President Biden said at Warsaw’s Royal Castle. “I can report: Kyiv stands strong, Kyiv stands proud, it stands tall and, most important, it stands free.”
Biden used the trip to rally support for Ukraine as the war enters its second year with no end in sight, on the same day as Russian President Vladimir Putin delivered a major speech unpicking nuclear accords with Washington.
Earlier on Tuesday, Biden met NATO ally Polish President Andrzej Duda, one of the most vocal proponents of stronger support for Kyiv.
That followed an unannounced trip on Monday to Ukraine, marking the first time in recent memory that a US President has made such a journey to a country at war without US troops on the ground controlling the area. “When President Putin ordered his tanks to roll into Ukraine, he thought we would roll over,” Biden said. “He was wrong.”
Duda said Biden’s visit showed commitment to maintaining security in Europe, and described Biden’s stop in Kyiv as an “incredible gesture”.