Biden Calls Putin ‘Butcher’ in Visit With Refugees in Warsaw
Biden to Meet Top Ukrainian Officials Saturday While in Poland
(Bloomberg) --
President Joe Biden denounced Vladimir Putin as “a butcher” while comforting refugees in Poland, saying he’s “not sure” the Kremlin has scaled back its military ambitions in Ukraine.
Biden’s comments during a tour of a refugee processing center in Warsaw followed a surprise meeting with Ukrainian officials to discuss how the U.S. could further help the country fight off Russia’s invasion.
While Biden was visiting the Polish capital, reports on social media and television images showed large plumes of smoke rising over Lviv on Saturday, with air raid sirens sounding in the western Ukrainian city that’s near the Polish border.
The mayor said Russian missiles had hit Lviv and told people to stay in shelters. Another city official said three large blasts had been felt. Russian missiles have previously hit sites in western Ukraine, including a military training center and buildings near the airport.
Russia’s military said Friday it is focusing on taking full control of the Donbas region in eastern Ukraine.
Biden spoke with refugees from Ukraine -- at one point holding up a little girl and taking a selfie -- and met celebrity chef and philanthropist Jose Andres at a stadium where Andres’s World Central Kitchen has a food tent set up along with local vendors to provide meals.
More than 10 million people in Ukraine have been forced from their homes and more than 3.4 million have fled the country, including more than 2 million who have arrived in Poland.
Earlier in the day, Biden updated the Ukrainian officials “on U.S. efforts to rally the world in support of Ukraine’s fight against Russian aggression” and the two sides “discussed further efforts to help Ukraine defend its territory,” the White House said in a statement.
The president is on the final leg of a trip aimed at showing U.S. and allied resolve to counter Russia’s invasion. He joined a meeting between Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba and Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov and their U.S. counterparts -- Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin -- dropping in about an hour after it began and remaining for about 40 minutes, the White House said.
The meeting comes as the U.S. and its allies look to show strength and unity while papering over differences regarding limited options and the cold realities of the conflict. The U.S. has ruled out direct military intervention in Ukraine, as well as some of the aid sought by its government, such as providing jets or enforcing a no-fly zone with American planes.
With no sign of a peace deal on the horizon, the U.S. and its allies have signaled concern that Putin may act more dangerously if his campaign stalls. NATO leaders meeting in Brussels earlier this week discussed the potential for chemical, biological or even nuclear attacks by Russia on Ukraine.
In Saturday’s meeting, Blinken, Austin and the Ukrainian officials discussed “outcomes” of Thursday’s North Atlantic Treaty Organization summit in Brussels, as well as the U.S.’s “unwavering commitment to Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity in the face of the Russian Federation’s increasingly brutal assault on Ukrainian cities and civilian population,” State Department Spokesman Ned Price said in a statement.
Blinken and Austin “pledged continued support to meet Ukraine’s humanitarian, security, and economic needs,” Price said.
It’s the first time Biden and Kuleba met face-to-face since Putin’s Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine. In a tweet, the Ukrainian said the meeting was focused on “practical decisions in both political and defense spheres.”
Biden also met Saturday with Polish President Andrzej Duda, telling him that the U.S. regards its NATO obligation to defend Poland in the event of attack as a “sacred commitment.” Duda said Poland is interested in purchasing more U.S. weaponry, and raised the prospect of cooperating further to produce U.S. military hardware in his nation.
“We are a serious partner, we are a credible ally,” Duda told Biden in translated remarks.
Before returning to Washington, the U.S. president on Saturday evening will deliver what National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan has billed as a “major address” on efforts to aid Ukraine and counter Russian aggression.
Biden “will speak to the stakes of this moment, the urgency of the challenge that lies ahead, what the conflict in Ukraine means for the world, and why it is so important that the free world sustain unity and resolve in the face of Russian aggression,” Sullivan told reporters on Air Force One on Friday en route to Poland.
The U.S. and European Union on Friday unveiled an agreement to help Europe wean itself off Russian fuel imports.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov accused the U.S. and EU of aiming to “destroy” Russia through “hybrid war, a total war.”
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