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UPDATE: US president in Poland for talks on Ukraine

21.02.2023 07:30
US President Joe Biden arrived in the Polish capital Warsaw late on Monday for talks with NATO allies following a surprise trip to war-torn Ukraine.
US President Joe Biden lands at Warsaws Chopin Airport late on Monday.
US President Joe Biden lands at Warsaw's Chopin Airport late on Monday.PAP/Rafał Guz

His Air Force One plane landed at Warsaw's Chopin Airport at around 11:15 p.m., Polish state news agency PAP reported.

At the airport, Biden was greeted by senior aides to Polish President Andrzej Duda, Marcin Przydacz and Grażyna Ignaczak-Bandych, as well as the US ambassador to Poland, Mark Brzezinski. 

The politicians talked for several minutes, according to news outlets.  

The presidential motorcade then rolled to the Marriott Hotel in downtown Warsaw, where Biden spent the night, according to news reports.

As the US president arrived there at around 11:45 p.m., there was a huge police presence around the hotel and the building was cordoned off by fences, the PAP news agency reported. 

Biden arrives in Poland from Ukraine

Biden came to Poland straight from a visit to the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, from where he travelled by train to the southeastern Polish city of Przemyśl and then by Air Force One to Warsaw from Jasionka Airport near the southeastern Polish city of Rzeszów.

Earlier in the day, Biden made an unannounced visit to Kyiv in a show of US support for Ukraine as it battles Russia's invasion, according to news outlets.

While in Kyiv the US president met with Ukraine's leader Volodymyr Zelensky and promised USD 500 million worth of new military aid to Ukraine.

Biden in Poland

During his visit to Poland, Biden is expected to be greeted by Polish President Andrzej Duda shortly before 1 p.m. on Tuesday. 

The two leaders will then hold bilateral talks "in a small circle of officials" before attending "a wider meeting of the two delegations," the PAP news agency reported. 

At 5:30 p.m., Biden will deliver a major speech to the Polish people to mark the one-year anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, according to officials.

Biden will be speaking in the gardens of Warsaw’s Royal Castle, news outlets reported.

On Wednesday, the US leader will attend a summit of the Bucharest Nine (B9) group of eastern-flank NATO allies to discuss bolstering NATO’s eastern edge and providing further support for Ukraine, officials have said.

Biden will also hold talks with NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg and meet with US embassy staff when he is in Warsaw on Tuesday and Wednesday, according to the White House.

Tuesday is day 363 of Russia’s war on Ukraine.

(pm/gs)

Source: PAP, polsatnews.pl