Biden Heads to Poland as Crisis Grows

Katie Pavlich | March 21, 2022 8:30 AM

President Joe Biden will travel to Poland this week as tensions with Russia continue to rise and the refugee crisis from Ukraine gets worse by the hour.

"This week, President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. will travel to Poland following his meetings in Brussels, Belgium with our NATO Allies, G7 Leaders, and European Union Leaders to discuss international efforts to support Ukraine and impose severe and unprecedented costs on Russia for its invasion. On Friday, March 25, President Biden will travel to Warsaw, Poland, where he will hold a bilateral meeting with President Andrzej Duda. The President will discuss how the United States, alongside our Allies and partners, is responding to the humanitarian and human rights crisis that Russia’s unjustified and unprovoked war on Ukraine has created," White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki announced late Sunday night.

While Ukraine is not a member of NATO, last week a number of leaders from NATO countries traveled to Kyiv for a solidarity meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

PRAGUE, March 15 (Reuters) - The prime ministers of the Czech Republic, Poland and Slovenia were travelling to Kyiv by train on Tuesday to show support for the country on behalf of the EU, the first foreign leaders to visit the Ukrainian capital since Russia invaded last month.
— Idrees Ali (@idreesali114) March 15, 2022

Currently 10 million people have fled their homes in Ukraine, with three million leaving the country as refugees. Most of them have gone to Poland, while others have sought refuge in Romania and Moldova.

For weeks the Ukrainian government has attempted to set up humanitarian corridors in order for people not fighting, specifically women and children, to leave. Russian forces have repeatedly fired up on civilians.

Mariupol is now a ghost city – 80% of its infrastructure is damaged or destroyed, 40% of which cannot be rebuilt, authorities say. One of the largest in the country, a beautiful, developed city razed to the ground.
— Anastasiia Lapatina (@lapatina_) March 20, 2022