U.S. President Joe Biden continued his visit to Poland on Friday (March 25) with a briefing from aid agencies about the refugee crisis unfolding in the region.
Staff from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) briefed the president on the humanitarian response to help civilians sheltering from Russian attacks inside Ukraine and to respond to the growing flow of refugees fleeing Ukraine.
Poland has taken in more than 2.23 million people fleeing violence in Ukraine, out of some 3.7 million all together who have poured over borders across central Europe during the last four weeks.
Speaking alongside his Polish counterpart Andrzej Duda, Biden used the opportunity to call for unity amongst democracies.
"The single most important thing that we can do from the outset is keep the democracies united in our opposition and our effort to curtail the devastation that is occurring at the hands of a man whom I quite frankly think is a war criminal - and I think he’ll meet the legal definition of that as well," he said.
"You know, I’m here in Poland to see first hand the humanity crisis and, quite frankly, part of my disappointment is that I can’t see it first hand like I have in other places. They will not let me, understandably, cross the border…" - he added.
Joe Biden also said that the USA was ready to spend an additional "1 billion dollars for those who’ve fled and those who are affected around the world as a result of the negative impact of this war on food security.
"The bad news is, they’re the bread basket of the world, Ukraine and Russia, but we, the United States are going to do our part because we’re the third largest producer of wheat in the world and our Canadian friends are going to do the same thing. We’re going to try very hard but in the meantime, the suffering that’s taking place now is at your doorstop - you’re the ones risking, in some cases, your lives and risking all you know, to try to help," he stressed.
"Hundreds of thousands of people who are being cut off from help by Russian forces and are besieged in places like Mariupol. I mean, it’s not stopping. It’s like something out of a science fiction movie," U.S. president said.
Biden was also joined by USAID Administrator Samantha Powers and Secretary of State Anthony Blinken.
Later on Friday evening, Biden travelled to the capital Warsaw for talks with Duda.
Źródło: TVN24 News in English, TVN24, Reuters