Biden assures Poland that US support is ironclad

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -President Joe Biden assured Poland’s leaders on Tuesday that U.S. support for Poland is ironclad amid concerns in Europe that Russian President Vladimir Putin will not stop his military aggression at the borders of Ukraine.

Biden and Poland’s president and prime minister met at the White House to take stock of the security situation and what recent Russian territorial gains in Ukraine might mean for the tense region.

Polish President Andrzej Duda brought up with Biden his campaign for NATO allies to increase their defense spending from 2% of GDP to 3% in response to what he called “the full-scale war launched by Russia right beyond NATO’s eastern border.”

“Russia’s aggression against Ukraine clearly demonstrated that the United States is and should remain the security leader,” he said. “But other allies must take more responsibility for the security of the alliance as a whole.”

Biden, celebrating Poland’s 25 years as a NATO member, reiterated U.S. support for NATO’s Article 5 mutual defense treaty, under which an attack against one ally is considered an attack against all. He said American support for Poland is ironclad.

Last month, Democrat Biden’s likely general election rival, Republican former President Donald Trump, said he would not protect NATO allies who did not spend enough on defense and would encourage Russia “to do whatever the hell they want.”

The U.S. president urged Congress to approve legislation that would send $60 billion in security aid for Ukraine. The Senate passed the bill last month in a bipartisan vote, but Republican hardliners in the House of Representatives have stalled it.

“We must act before it literally is too late because, as Poland remembers, Russia won’t stop at Ukraine. Putin will keep going, putting Europe and the United States and the entire free world at risk, in my view,” said Biden.

Poland’s prime minister, Donald Tusk, said ahead of the meeting that he would raise with Biden the need for NATO to strengthen its capabilities on its eastern flank to deter Russia.

“NATO must accept that if not today, then tomorrow, the day after tomorrow, operational capabilities on NATO’s eastern flank must be greater,” Tusk told private broadcaster TVN24.

“A strong, equipped Poland, supported by allies, is not only a matter of our security, but the security of the entire West,” he added.

“We are here to reaffirm that Poland is and will be a solid and lasting part of the trans-Atlantic community no matter who wins the election in our country,” Tusk said.

White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters ahead of the talks that the United States will offer to sell 96 Apache attack helicopters to Poland and will approve a $2 billion direct foreign aid loan for Warsaw.

They are expected to discuss plans for the annual NATO summit to be held July 9-11 in Washington.

PLEAS FOR AMERICAN HELP

Speaking before the talks, Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski urged House Speaker Mike Johnson to allow a vote on the Ukraine funds, but toned down an earlier plea in which he said Johnson would be blamed if the bill failed and Russian troops advanced.

“If the American package doesn’t arrive … Ukraine might be in difficulty, and that might eventually mean the need for more American troops in Europe,” he told reporters at a Monitor breakfast.

Sikorski also appealed to Johnson’s Baptist faith, saying that Russia “persecutes religious minorities, including Baptists” in Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine.

Sikorski said Poland had joined a Czech-led plan to buy 800,000 rounds of ammunition for Ukraine, describing Warsaw’s financial contribution as substantial.

(Reporting by Jeff Mason, Steve Holland and Jonathan Landay in Washington, Alan Charlish, Pawel Florkiewicz, Anna Koper in Warsaw; Editing by Nick Zieminski, Alexandra Hudson and Jonathan Oatis)