Newsman: The U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris met with Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki and President President Andrzej Duda in Warsaw on Thursday morning, reaffirming the United States’ commitment to Poland and other NATO allies.
“This is a moment that requires severe and swift consequences for Russian aggression against Ukraine,” Harris said during a joint news conference in Warsaw with Polish President Andrzej Duda. “What is at stake, this very moment, are some of the guiding principles around the NATO alliance.”
“The U.S. commitment to Article 5 is ironclad,” Harris said, referencing the principle of mutual defense that is the bedrock of the transatlantic military alliance. “The U.S. is prepared to defend every inch of NATO territory.”
“As we have said from the beginning, if Russia were to take aggressive action, there would be consequences,” Harris added. “And those consequences I believe have been evident but a result of our work together that we have been doing together as a unified force.”
Harris also announced two promised Patriot missile systems have been delivered to Poland.
In addition, Harris said the United States will provide $50 million in humanitarian aid, saying the excess amount of refugees has “put an extraordinary burden on Poland and the people of Poland.” The country has accepted more than 1.4 million Ukrainian refugees, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.
“We will continue with the support that we can give you, Mr. President, in terms of the work that you and the people of Poland have been doing to bear this burden,” Harris said.
During the joint press conference with Morawiecki following their bilateral meeting, Harris thanked the Polish people for inviting “with such courage and generosity the refugees who have fled Ukraine.”
Later Thursday, during another joint press conference, reporters asked Harris and Duda about the U.S. rejecting Poland’s offer to hand over all its MiG-29 fighter jets to an American air base in Germany to boost Ukraine’s fight against Russia. Harris largely dodged the questions on whether the U.S. has an alternative plan for delivering the better air power that Ukraine has request. She pointed to the $13 billion in funding Congress is in the process of passing to give to Ukraine for humanitarian and security needs, in addition to the ongoing support the U.S. has been delivering.
“I can tell you that the issue facing the Ukrainian people and our allies in Eastern flank is something that occupies one of our highest priorities in terms of paying attention to the needs, understanding it is a dynamic situation, and requires us to be nimble and to be swift,” she said.
While Duda acknowledged that the situation was an “extremely complicated” one, he argued his country was trying to be a “responsible” and “reliable member of NATO” by addressing the requests made to Poland while working with their partner nations.
“We decided to put those jets at the disposal of NATO, not expecting anything in return,” Duda said, “because we stressed very clearly that as a gap filler for the donated equipment, we were able to buy something that we would need as a replacement and we ourselves were ready to provide our equipment free of charge.”
