Sharjah24 - AFP: As the war in Ukraine approaches its one-year mark, President Joe Biden will "message" his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin when he talks in Warsaw the next week. He will also praise NATO's unparalleled commitment to assist Ukrainians in saving their nation.
The White House says Biden will give the speech in Poland -- a key US ally and fulcrum of vast efforts to arm Ukraine and receive refugees -- on Tuesday.
That's the same day Putin is set to give his own speech in Moscow, three days from the February 24th anniversary of Russian tanks rolling into Ukraine.
A year ago, the world looked on in horror as a huge Russian force headed directly towards Ukraine's capital Kyiv for what Moscow planned to be a rapid conquest, leading to capitulation and installation of a pro-Russian regime.
Instead, Biden will be commemorating the partnership between NATO countries and what was to many an unexpectedly well-organized Ukrainian military, which has not only repelled Russian forces from the capital but recaptured swaths of territory.
Biden will touch down in Warsaw on Tuesday and meet with Polish President Andrzej Duda. On Wednesday he meets with leaders of the Bucharest Nine, a group of NATO members in eastern Europe -- Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania and Slovakia.
In addition, he will speak by phone next week with the leaders of Britain, France and Italy, the White House said. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is due in Washington on March 3.
But Biden's main public event will be the speech delivered Tuesday from Warsaw's Royal Castle, on "how the United States has rallied the world to support the people of Ukraine as they defend their freedom and democracy," National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said.
"President Biden will make it clear that the United States will continue to stand with Ukraine... for as long as it takes," he told reporters on Friday.
"You'll hear messages in the president's speech that will certainly resonate with the American people, certainly will resonate with our allies and partners, without question resonate with the Polish people," Kirby said.
"And I would suspect that you'll hear him messaging Mr. Putin as well, as well as the Russian people."
Kirby said Biden has no plans to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky during the trip or travel into Ukraine -- which, due to the heavy security around US presidents, he has not done since the war started.
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