 "US President Joe Biden meets with US Army soldiers assigned to the 82nd Airborne Division at the G2 Arena in Jasionka, near Rzeszow, Poland (Photo: Reuters)")
President Joe Biden will hear directly from US troops stationed near Poland's border with Ukraine on Friday and learn about the growing humanitarian response to the millions of Ukrainians who are fleeing to Poland to escape Russia's assault on their homeland.
Biden planned to meet with members of the US Army's 82nd Airborne Division, who are serving alongside Polish troops.
He arrived on Friday afternoon at the airport in Rzeszow, the largest city in southeastern Poland, where some US troops are based about an hour's drive from the Ukrainian border.
He will be in Warsaw on Saturday for talks with Polish President Andrzej Duda and others.
The Polish leader was to welcome Biden at the airport on Friday, but his plane was delayed by a technical problem.
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The European Union said some 3.5 million Ukrainians half of them children have fled the country, with more than 2.2 million ending up in Poland.
The US Congress this month approved spending more than USD13 billion on humanitarian and military assistance for Ukraine. The administration has begun allocating those funds.
White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said Biden will hear directly from the American troops and humanitarian experts about the situation on the ground and what further steps need to be taken to make sure that we're investing US dollars in the right place.
Biden, who spent Thursday lobbying US allies to stay united against Russia, speculated that what he sees in Poland will reinforce my commitment to have the US make sure we are a major piece of dealing with the relocation of all those folks, as well as humanitarian assistance needed both inside Ukraine and outside Ukraine.
Speaking in Brussels after meetings with other world leaders, Biden said he had visited many war zones and refugee camps during his political career and it's devastating to see young children without parents or men and women with blank looks on their faces wondering, My God, where am I? What's going to happen to me?
He said Poland, Romania and Germany shouldn't be left on their own to deal with the largest refugee crisis in Europe since World War II.
This is an international responsibility, Biden said shortly after he announced USD1 billion in additional assistance to help Ukrainian refugees.
He also announced that the US would take in up to 100,000 of those refugees. The White House has said most Ukrainian refugees eventually want to return home.
Biden said the US is obligated to be engaged and do all we can to ease the suffering and pain of innocent women and children and men" who make it across the border.
He said, I plan on attempting to see those folks ... I hope I get to see a lot of people.
Some refugees interviewed on Friday at the train station in Przemysl, Poland, said they hoped to eventually return to Ukraine. They also were not very hopeful about Biden's visit.
For sure I do not have any expectations" about Biden, said a tearful Ira Satula, 32, from Kremenchug. Satula was grateful for all the support and Poland's warm reception.
But home is home, and I hope we'll be there soon," Satula said.
Olga Antonovna, 68, from Chernigov, said it's really 50-50" that Biden will help enough.
I think that we needed help a long time ago, long before, she said.
Sullivan said Biden will give a speech on Saturday on the stakes of this moment, the urgency of the challenge that lies ahead, what the conflict in Ukraine means for the world".
(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
