President Biden is meeting with Ukrainian refugees and Polish President Andrzej Sebastian Duda in Poland on Saturday, before delivering what his national security adviser described as a “major” speech about Ukraine.
Saturday is the final day of the president’s whirlwind trip to Belgium and Poland, which began with meetings of the G7 and NATO. In Brussels, NATO leaders agreed to add four battle groups along the Eastern Flank, and Mr. Biden announced an additional $1 billion in military aid to Ukraine. The U.S. is also accepting up to 100,000 Ukrainian refugees.
The president’s address Saturday “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,” national security adviser Jake Sullivan said Friday.
His aides say he wants to not only show support for Poland and Ukraine, but also cast the conflict as a broader battle between democracy and autocracy.
On Friday, Mr. Biden visited troops in the 82nd Airborne Division based in Poland, not far from the Ukrainian border, recognizing them for stepping up and volunteering to serve the country and the world. The president told the troops that their mission was urgent and consequential, that they were “in the midst of a fight between democracies and oligarchs.”
“Who is going to prevail,” he asked. “Are democracies going to prevail … and the values we share? Or are autocracies going to prevail? And that’s really what’s at stake.”
