President Joe Biden is scheduled to give a speech in Warsaw on Saturday, with the White House saying the president will issue a call for Western unity and determination in the face of Russia’s military campaign in Ukraine.
Biden is now in Poland, where at the time of reporting he was in a meeting with Polish President Andrzej Duda.
Later in the day, Biden will meet with other Polish officials and Ukrainian refugees in Warsaw, to get a first-hand look at U.S. humanitarian efforts in the face of a massive wave of refugees fleeing the war.
U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters at a White House press briefing on Friday that Biden plans to give a major address on Saturday in Warsaw, where he'll “speak to the stakes of the moment” and the urgency of the challenges that lie ahead for the Western alliance as it responds to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Sullivan said Biden’s speech will outline “what the conflict in Ukraine means for the world, and why it is so important that the free world stay in unity and resolve in the face of Russian aggression.”
The president will also address his administration’s expectations for where the conflict in Ukraine will go from here.
Asked by reporters whether it’s the assessment of the administration that Russia will move against other Eastern European countries, Sullivan said Russia’s actions in Ukraine show a willingness to disregard international borders and “the basic rules of the road of the international community.”
Sullivan said that Biden’s support for the deployment of additional forces in Eastern European countries is meant to send a “clear message” to Moscow that the United States and its NATO allies stand ready to defend “every inch of NATO territory, and to deter any thinking that Putin might have about further Russian aggression into NATO.”
A significant development from the perspective of security considerations along NATO’s eastern flank is the fact that Belarus is being used as a staging ground for Russian attacks into Ukraine and that the Russia-allied country has changed its constitution to make it easier for Russian troops and capabilities to further mobilize on its soil.
The threat of Belarus potentially getting more involved in the conflict is an additional reason why NATO forces that are postured along the eastern flank must “show strength and resolve,” Sullivan said.
Sullivan added that a diplomatic process between Ukraine and Russia continues, with some NATO allies playing roles in negotiations, though the United States is not directly involved.
Speaking to reporters in Brussels following an extraordinary NATO summit on Thursday, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said a key goal in Turkey’s mediation effort was to bring together the Ukrainian and Russian presidents for peace talks.
Erdogan’s office said Friday that the Turkish president supports Ukraine’s territorial integrity, something Zelenskyy said in his address must be a condition of a negotiated settlement.
“Ukrainian sovereignty must be guaranteed,” Zelenskyy said. “Ukraine’s territorial integrity must be ensured. That is, the conditions must be fair. And the Ukrainian people will not accept others.”
Zelenskyy, who said that 16,000 Russian servicemen had lost their lives in the conflict, once again called for “meaningful” peace talks with Russia.
“Meaningful. Urgent. Fair. For the sake of the result, not for the sake of the delay,” Zelenskyy said.
Analysts and officials have called into question Russia’s sincerity in participating in the peace talks. Some have argued that only if Moscow senses that its chances of securing a military victory in the campaign have all but vanished will the Kremlin engage in earnest negotiations.
Britain’s foreign secretary Liz Truss has been an outspoken critic of the talks, expressing concern that they’re being used as a “smokescreen” by Russia to regroup ahead of a renewed offensive.
“I’m very skeptical,” Truss told The Times of London newspaper in a recent interview. “What we’ve seen is an attempt to create space for the Russians to regroup. Their invasion isn’t going according to plan,” she said.
“I fear the negotiation is yet another attempt to create a diversion and create a smokescreen. I don’t think we’re yet at a point for negotiation,” she added.
British intelligence has painted a picture of a Russian advance that has had difficulty meeting campaign aims, being slowed by logistic issues and fierce Ukrainian resistance.
“Russian forces are proving reluctant to engage in large scale urban infantry operations, rather preferring to rely on the indiscriminate use of air and artillery bombardments in an attempt to demoralise defending forces,” UK intelligence said in a March 26 update.
“It is likely Russia will continue to use its heavy firepower on urban areas as it looks to limit its own already considerable losses, at the cost of further civilian casualties,” it added.
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