U.S. President Joe Biden planned to meet with Polish President Andrzej Duda in Poland on Tuesday.

The visit is coming days before the anniversary of the start of Russia’s full invasion of Ukraine.

According to the White House, Mr Biden will speak in front of Warsaw’s Royal Castle in the early evening.

On Wednesday, Mr Biden plans to meet with representatives of other Eastern European NATO countries.

He reached Poland on Monday evening after travelling to the Ukrainian capital Kyiv under tight security precautions to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. 

There, Mr Biden promised Ukraine further support in its struggle to repel the invading Russian forces.

For Mr Biden, it was the first visit to Ukraine since the war began and, according to the White House, the first visit by a U.S. president to a war zone without the U.S. military on the ground.

Mr Biden last visited neighbouring Poland at the end of March 2022, about a month after the war began.

Then too, he gave a speech against the backdrop of the Royal Castle, in which he assured Ukraine of his support and sharply condemned the actions of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

This year, Mr Biden’s appearance in Warsaw on Tuesday would coincide with Mr Putin’s annual state of the nation speech.

Russian officials said his address would be largely about the “special military operation’’ in Ukraine and its effects. The term ‘war’ is still avoided in Russia. 

(dpa/NAN)