US President Joe Biden met in Warsaw on Saturday with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitro Kuleba and Defense Minister Oleksi Reznikov in their first face-to-face meeting with Ukrainian officials from the first rank since the beginning of the war.
Biden, who was with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, expressed his “unwavering commitment to Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” State Department spokesman Ned said. Price, after the meeting.
Kuleba told reporters that the US had promised more aid and cooperation for Ukraine’s defense and security. He also stated that the group discussed the Mariupol case in detail.
On Saturday, the mayor of the port city destroyed by the Russians said there was fighting in the streets and the situation remained critical. The country’s deputy prime minister, Irina Vereshchuk, announced that 100,000 civilians still need to be evacuated from Mariupol.
In an ad on national TV, she also claimed that there had been an agreement to establish ten humanitarian corridors to evacuate civilians from towns and cities hardest hit by fighting.
According to Vereshchuk, the only way out of Mariupol is in private cars, as Russian forces do not allow buses to pass through their checkpoints. Ukraine and Russia have blamed each other for failing to establish humanitarian corridors in recent weeks.
Also on Saturday, Russian forces took control of the town of Slavutich, where workers at the decommissioned Chernobyl nuclear power plant live, Kiev region governor Oleksandr Pavliuk said.
In an online statement, Pavliuk said Russian troops had occupied the city’s hospital and kidnapped the mayor. Reuters could not independently verify the reports.
On Friday, Ukraine said its troops had repelled a first attack by Russian troops approaching Slavutich.
Biden speech in Poland
On Saturday, Biden is also due to meet Polish President Andrzej Duda and deliver a speech saying the “free world” opposes Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and that there is unity among major economies on the need to stop Vladimir Putin.​
According to the White House, in his speech, the American “will comment on the united efforts of the free world to support the people of Ukraine, hold Russia accountable for its brutal war and defend a future rooted in democratic principles”.
Biden and Duda will meet in private and are expected to discuss how to arm Ukraine with warplanes and give the country other security guarantees.
Seeking to avoid direct conflict with Russia, Washington earlier this month rejected a surprise offer by Poland to transfer Russian-made MiG-29 fighter jets to a US base in Germany, which would be used to resupply Ukraine’s air force.
Now Poland wants to accelerate the purchase of US-made Patriot missiles, F35 fighter jets and tanks for its own safety and seek reassurance on NATO’s commitments to defend its members.
Also on Biden’s agenda for this last day in Poland is a visit to Ukrainian refugees – the country is the main gateway for those escaping the war and has already received more than 2 million people in that situation, most of them women and children.
On his visit to Europe, Biden held three days of emergency meetings with allies from the G7, the European Union and NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization). In Poland since Friday (25), he met American soldiers who are part of NATO battalions.
Putin’s February 24 invasion of Ukraine, which Russia calls a “special operation”, tested Biden’s promise, when he took office last year, to stand up to autocrats, including Russian President and Chinese leader Xi Jinping.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky delivered a speech via video conference on Saturday at a political and business forum in Doha, Qatar, accusing Russia of encouraging a dangerous arms race by displaying its nuclear weapons after the invasion that began. on February 24th.
Zelensky addressed the energy dependence of many countries on Russia and urged Qatar to increase its natural gas production to avoid “blackmail from the Russians”.
