Seemingly out of nowhere, at the close of Joe Biden’s speech about the long struggle for peace, security and popular will, his wish fell from the sky like missiles on Lviv. “For God’s sake, this man cannot stay in power,” the US president sighed in Warsaw on Saturday evening.
During his two-day visit to Poland, Biden had already called Russian leader Vladimir Putin “a butcher” and “a dictator.” And described its brutal invasion of Ukraine as as unreal as “a science fiction movie.” But never before has Biden called for Putin’s departure and a change of power in Moscow. After his speech the White House rushed to clarify that the US President had not called for regime change†
In the courtyard of the Royal Castle in Warsaw, rebuilt after World War II, Biden outlined “the never-ending fight for democracy.” An arduous and costly struggle, but “we must pay that price, for the darkness that drives autocracy is ultimately no match for the flame of freedom that lights up the souls of people everywhere.” A reality that the Poles, who shook off communism only 33 years ago, understand better than anyone else.
Biden called Putin the moral loser, his invasion a “strategic failure” and NATO “stronger than ever”. And he repeatedly recalled in Warsaw the words of the Polish Pope John Paul II, who was instrumental in the overthrow of communist rule in Poland in 1989: “Do not be afraid.”
Analysis: Poland claims its central place with words and deeds
Frontline State
On his first trip to Europe since the war in Ukraine began, Biden visited Poland to thank that frontline state for its efforts to help Ukrainian refugees and facilitate arms supplies to its neighboring country in need. But above all to promise Poland that they will be safe from Putin’s aggression. Defending NATO territory, which Poland has been a part of since 1999, is his “sacred duty,” Biden promised.
That was the reassurance for which hundreds of Poles had come to the Old Town and many more watched the speech on television. “Even if they are just words, they matter if they are guarantees from the American president,” says Alicja Jez (19), an English student with bleached curls. She tries not to think too much about it, but has been afraid of further war escalation in Europe in recent weeks. On Saturday, violence once again came close to the Polish border, when rockets hit Lviv, the western Ukrainian city 60 kilometers from the Polish border.
US forces are not in Europe to engage in conflict with Russian forces. They are here to defend NATO
Other spectators had come to the speech with higher expectations. Bogdan Danko (17) fled on his own from the Ukrainian city of Lutsk three weeks ago and has since been waiting in Warsaw for a visa to Canada, where he has family. “To bring peace, closing the airspace is essential. I wish Biden was willing to do that,” he says behind thick lenses and the yellow-blue Ukrainian flag around his narrow shoulders. But the Americans have indicated that they will not establish a no-fly zone, which would mean defusing Russian equipment. “US forces are not in Europe to engage in conflict with Russian forces. They are here to defend NATO,” Biden said. After his performance, Ukrainians sang their national anthem in front of the empty stage and chanted “close that sky†
Permanent stationing
Krzysztof Zielke, 59, had just hoped that Biden would “finally commit to the permanent stationing of 30,000 American soldiers in Poland.” But that promise also failed to materialize. Zielk, a high official with a brush mustache, was also at this castle in 1997 when Bill Clinton promised Poland accession to NATO. “The big mistake is that we didn’t expand NATO further,” he says. According to him, Ukraine would not have been in ruins now.
Zielke has come to see Biden this windy and cold Saturday night with two sons, one of whom is waving a dark blue NATO flag, and claps at almost everything the president says. He has not given up on his belief in a continued American military presence on the eastern flank. “We previously wanted a ‘Fort Trump’ in vain, now everyone is hoping for ‘Fort Biden’.”
Biden’s balancing act: Deter Putin not to intervene