Joe Biden Rules out Ukraine but Adds Poland to Europe Visit

President Joe Biden speaks at the annual Friends of Ireland luncheon on Capitol Hill in Wa
AP Photo/Patrick Semansky
Simon Kent

President Joe Biden has added Poland to his Europe trip this week as Russian forces continue to escalate their nearly month-old invasion of neighboring Ukraine. Urgent talks with NATO and other allies are planned to feature on the diplomatic foray.

Biden will first travel to Brussels and then to Poland to meet with leaders there, press secretary Jen Psaki said in a statement Sunday night.

The flying visit was first announced last week, as Breitbart News reported, with staff promising then “the president is a big believer in face-to-face diplomacy so it’s an opportunity to do exactly that.”

Press secretary Jen Psaki confirmed nothing has changed Biden’s diplomatic ambitions in the interim, announcing the president will head to Warsaw for a bilateral meeting with President Andrzej Duda scheduled for Saturday as he seeks to impose “severe and unprecedented costs on Russia for its invasion.”

Biden will discuss how the U.S., along with its allies and partners, is responding to “the humanitarian and human rights crisis that Russia’s unjustified and unprovoked war on Ukraine has created,” Psaki said.

AP reports White House officials said Biden has no plans to travel to Ukraine.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken, while in Poland this month, briefly crossed into Ukraine in a show of solidarity alongside that country’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba.

Poland has been one of the most vocal Eastern bloc countries asking fellow NATO members to consider getting more involved to rein in the bloodshed.

Biden will discuss the war with European leaders on Monday to set the groundwork for his trip.

President Emmanuel Macron of France, Chancellor Olaf Scholz of Germany, Prime Minister Mario Draghi of Italy and Prime Minister Boris Johnson of the United Kingdom are expected to take part, the White House said.

Follow Simon Kent on Twitter: or e-mail to: skent@breitbart.com

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