Vice President Kamala Harris said in Warsaw Thursday that she was traveling to one of NATO’s easternmost allies to show the United States’ commitment to the region’s security, and announced the delivery of two new Patriot missile systems to Poland.
“What is at stake, this very moment, are some of the guiding principles around the NATO alliance. And in particular, the issue of the importance of defending sovereignty and territorial integrity and in this case of Ukraine,” Harris said as she began a joint news conference with Polish President Andrzej Duda.
“The United States is prepared to defend every inch of NATO territory. The United States takes seriously that an attack against one is an attack against all,” Harris said.
Alongside Duda, Harris said her presence in Warsaw was a signal of American commitment to the alliance.
“I am here in Poland as an expression of the enduring and important relationship, that, again, has been longstanding, but in particular on the issue of Ukraine is unified and is clear: we will do everything together in partnership, in solidarity to support what is necessary at this very moment in terms of the humanitarian and security needs of Ukraine and the Ukrainian people,” she said.
She said the US was fulfilling requests to provide Poland with Patriot missiles. A spokesman for US European Command said in a statement Tuesday night that the US was sending two new Patriot missile batteries to Poland as defensive weapons to counter any potential threat to US and NATO allies amid Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine. Patriots are air defense missile systems designed to counter and destroy incoming short-range ballistic missiles, advanced aircraft and cruise missiles.
“What compels us also is the moral outrage that all civilized nations feel when we look at what is happening: innocent men, women, children, grandmothers, grandfathers who are fleeing everything,” Harris said.
Harris added that “atrocities of imaginable proportions” were underway in Ukraine.
Harris is tasked on Thursday with smoothing over a relationship with a key ally after the US rejected Poland’s surprise proposal to facilitate the transfer of its Soviet-era fighter jets to Ukraine.
Harris’ meeting with the hard-right nationalist may make for an awkward diplomatic moment, given that the US has rejected Poland’s offer to supply the jets — which Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has been asking for.
Before they sat down for talks, Harris greeted Duda at the entrance to the Belvedere Palace. Under a blue sunny sky, they shook hands and spoke through face masks before walking indoors.
Harris met first with Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki at the chancellery building, laying out her primary focus for the visit: reaffirming American commitment to eastern flank NATO allies.
“I wish it were under other circumstances,” she said of her visit.
The fighter jet issue didn’t arise directly in Harris’s first public appearance, though she has said she was ready to discuss security and humanitarian assistance to Ukraine.
She also said she was working to reinforce US commitment to ensure Russia faces a “serious and severe consequence” for its invasion of Ukraine.
And she thanked the Polish Prime Minister and his country for welcoming Ukrainian refugees with “courage and generosity.”
CNN
