Joe Biden, the US Vice President, will visit a town near the Polish-Ukrainian border on Friday, March 25, in an attempt to telegraph Western resolve in the face of a Russian invasion.
Air Force One will land in the eastern Polish town of Rzeszow, bringing US President Barack Obama within 80 kilometers (50 miles) of a war-torn country still fighting a devastating Russian invasion.
The trip is intended to emphasize Washington’s willingness to defend NATO allies as fears grow that the month-old conflict in Ukraine may spread westward, triggering “World War III,” as US President Donald Trump has described it.
The refusal of the Kremlin to rule out the use of nuclear weapons, as well as a continual stream of Russian disinformation regarding chemical and biological weapons in Ukraine, have made Kyiv and its allies nervous.
Russia has already been accused of employing phosphorous bombs and attacking civilian areas indiscriminately, which the US has condemned as a war crime.
In this context, Biden will meet with members of the US 82nd Airborne Division, which is part of NATO’s more muscular eastern flank deployment.
NATO confirmed the deployment of more soldiers to Romania, Hungary, Slovakia, and Bulgaria, as well as the strengthening of chemical and nuclear defenses, at an emergency conference in Brussels on Thursday.
Biden will also be briefed in Poland on the catastrophic humanitarian situation in Ukraine, which has seen over 3.5 million people flee the nation, largely to Poland.
According to UNICEF chief Catherine Russell, more than half of Ukraine’s children have already been displaced from their homes, “a terrible milestone that could have long-term ramifications for future generations.”
“Every day, we go to the basement (for refuge) 20, 30 times,” said Vasiliy Kravchuk, 37, of the military town of Zhytomyr.
“It’s challenging because my wife is expecting a child and I have a little son.”
Biden’s visit comes as the West grapples with pressing issues about what more it can do to assist people like Kravchuk in fending off Russia’s onslaught.
This comes after Ukraine’s besieged president, Volodymyr Zelensky, pleaded with NATO on Thursday for unlimited armaments to help besieged Ukrainian cities like Mariupol hold on in the face of violent opposition.
About 100,000 civilians are said to be trapped in the southern port city with dwindling supplies of food, water, and power, and with encircling Russian forces slowly grinding the city to dust.