Biden in Poland to see US troops, Ukraine refugees

President Joe Biden will hear directly from US troops stationed near Poland's border with Ukraine on Friday and learn about the growing humanitarian response to the millions of Ukrainians who are fleeing to Poland to escape Russia's assault on their homeland.

Biden planned to meet with members of the US Army's 82nd Airborne Division, who are serving alongside Polish troops. He arrived Friday afternoon at the airport in Rzeszow, the largest city in southeastern Poland, where some US troops are based about an hour's drive from the Ukrainian border.

He will be in Warsaw on Saturday for talks with Polish President Andrzej Duda and others. The Polish leader was to welcome Biden at the airport on Friday, but his plane was delayed by a technical problem.

The European Union says some 3.5 million Ukrainians — half of them children — have fled the country, with more than 2.2 million ending up in Poland.

The US Congress this month approved spending more than $13 billion on humanitarian and military assistance for Ukraine. The administration has begun allocating those funds.

White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said Biden will hear directly from the American troops and humanitarian experts about the situation on the ground and "what further steps need to be taken to make sure that we're investing" US dollars in the right place.

Biden, who spent Thursday lobbying US allies to stay united against Russia, speculated that what he sees in Poland "will reinforce my commitment to have the United States make sure we are a major piece of dealing with the relocation of all those folks, as well as humanitarian assistance needed both inside Ukraine and outside Ukraine."

Speaking in Brussels after meetings with other world leaders, Biden said he had visited many war zones and refugee camps during his political career and "it's devastating" to see young children without parents or men and women with blank looks on their faces wondering, "My God, where am I? What's going to happen to me?"

He said Poland, Romania and Germany shouldn't be left on their own to deal with the largest refugee crisis in Europe since World War II.

"This is an international responsibility," Biden said shortly after he announced $1 billion in additional assistance to help Ukrainian refugees. He also announced that the United States would take in up to 100,000 of those refugees. The White House has said most Ukrainian refugees eventually want to return home.

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