The capital of Poland began on Monday to prepare for the visit of U.S. President Joe Biden, with traffic cuts in the streets and the hope among neighbors that the president will announce more aid for both Poland and neighboring Ukraine.
Biden, who made a highly symbolic visit to Kiev on Monday, will begin his official agenda in Poland tomorrow, Tuesday, with a meeting with his Polish counterpart, Andrzej Duda, and a solemn speech in front of the Warsaw Royal Castle.
In the streets surrounding the castle, the Polish police was Monday putting up metal fences to cut off traffic. In addition, there were several police vans and technicians were rushing to remove the Christmas decorations still hanging from some lampposts.
Among those rushing to work was Katarzyna Wesotowicz, a 36-year-old psychologist who works at a school where some 70 Ukrainian children, driven out of their country by the war with Russia, have arrived in recent months.
“It is very difficult to help them, it is very hard for them to talk about the trauma they have lived through and their experiences. But we also have a language barrier, and no matter how hard we try to communicate, it’s difficult,” Wesotowicz told Efe, who sometimes relies on the help of other Ukrainian psychologists to help the children.
Like other Poles, Wesotowicz feels a strong personal connection to neighboring Ukraine: part of her family lived there many years ago and one of her best friends lives in Kiev.
“Ukrainians feel very lonely, they think they have to fight alone and they are afraid,” said Wesotowicz, who is hopeful that the United States and the European Union (EU) will soon announce more aid for Ukraine and for Ukrainian refugees who have arrived in recent months in Poland.
The same hope is held by Mateusz Mucha, a 30-year-old who lives near the castle and was walking his two dogs on Monday when he spoke to GLM.
Mucha believes Biden’s visit is “very important” to demonstrate the U.S. commitment to Poland, which has taken in the most Ukrainian refugees, with 1.5 million since the start of the war.
“Life in Poland has indeed changed a little bit. You hear a lot more Ukrainian than before, in the stores and everywhere. It has influenced politics as well,” Mucha reflects.
Biden’s visit, in fact, has aroused great expectations in Poland, which will hold parliamentary elections in the fall of this year.
In an interview with CBS, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki announced on Sunday that he intends to talk to Biden about the possibility of Washington increasing the number of U.S. troops permanently stationed in Poland.
The U.S. increased its presence in Poland before the Russian invasion nearly a year ago, and there are currently about 11,000 troops in the country, although they are rotated, according to CBS.
Biden’s visit to Ukraine and Poland comes with days to go before the anniversary of the start of the Russian invasion, which began on February 24, 2022.
The U.S. president will conclude his visit on Wednesday with a meeting with the “Bucharest 9” group, which brings together nine countries on NATO’s eastern flank (Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania and Slovakia).