Vice President Kamala Harris’ trip to Warsaw to thank Poland for taking in Ukrainians fleeing Russia’s invasion is taking an unexpected turn.
FILE - Vice President Kamala Harris speaks while meeting with Bahrain's Crown Prince and Prime Minister, Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, March 4, 2022, in her ceremonial office at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on the White House complex in Washington. Harris heads to Warsaw on Wednesday in what is supposed to be an opportunity to display the Biden administration’s thanks to Poland for taking in hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians fleeing their country after the Russian invasion.
But the Poles didn’t run that idea past the Biden administration before going public with it, and the Pentagon quickly dismissed the idea as “not tenable.”UkraineAnd it meant Harris was flying into fractious terrain Wednesday as she opens a two-day visit to Poland and Romania and tries to patch things up.
Biden on Tuesday said he was committed to helping Ukraine’s neighbors bear some of the financial pain of assisting refugees. He previously deployed 4,700 additional U.S. troops to Poland to bolster the defense of the eastern flank NATO ally. Secretary of State Antony Blinken did say on Sunday that the U.S. was working with Poland on plans to supply Ukraine with fighter jets, and to “backfill” Poland’s needs. The Polish government, however, made clear that it would not send its fighter jets directly to Ukraine or allow its airports to be used.
Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has been pleading for NATO to impose a no-fly zone over Ukraine or provide Ukraine with fighter jets. NATO has nixed the no-fly zone idea, saying such a move would lead to the biggest conflict in Europe since World War II and spread further.
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