President Biden is visiting Poland, next door to Ukraine. He gave a speech to U.S. troops stationed there to raise morale and also met with Polish President Andrzej Duda.

Transcript

DEBBIE ELLIOTT, HOST:

President Biden is continuing his diplomatic visit to Europe and is now in Poland, one country over from war-torn Ukraine. In addition to meeting with the Polish president, Biden had his first face-to-face meeting with top Ukrainian officials since the war began. Biden also addressed the U.S. troops stationed in Poland and is meeting with Ukrainian refugees. NPR's Joanna Kakissis is in Rzeszow, Poland, and joins us now. Thanks so much for being with us.

JOANNA KAKISSIS, BYLINE: Thanks for having me.

ELLIOTT: So Biden sat down with Ukraine's foreign minister and defense minister. What do we know about this meeting?

KAKISSIS: So the meeting was announced at the last minute, so we don't know a whole lot. Ukraine's foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba and defense minister Oleksii Reznikov met at the Marriott in Warsaw, where President Biden was, and actually dropped in as the Ukrainians were meeting with their American counterparts, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of State (ph) Lloyd Austin. Everyone wore masks, and the press was only allowed to see the Ukrainians making small talk with Biden about their trip from Ukraine. The Ukrainians had traveled by train from Ukraine since air travel is closed due to the war. So the Ukrainians reportedly stated afterwards that they had new commitments of support from the U.S., but this meeting was mainly important as a show of solidarity with Ukraine and to show that these two leaders are still able to travel and conduct their business despite the Russian invasion.

ELLIOTT: President Biden arrived in Poland yesterday. What has been his message so far?

KAKISSIS: So he's using this trip to spotlight Poland, a nation on NATO's eastern flank that borders with Ukraine and has its own very ugly history with Russian aggression. Poland is a main hub for Western weapons into Ukraine, and it's also a main hub for Ukrainians fleeing the war. More than 2 million Ukrainians have crossed into Poland since Russia invaded Ukraine a month ago. Biden is visiting with refugees, and in his meeting with the Polish president today, he stressed the importance of unity between Poland, NATO overall, and the United States. And he's making what the White House bills as a major speech about the Ukraine crisis later.

ELLIOTT: Tell us about how Poland is coping right now with this flood of desperate people coming into the country.

KAKISSIS: So - you know, so Poland has really stepped up with this humanitarian crisis. Poles are literally sheltering thousands of Ukrainians in their own homes. And I've met Poles who are sharing small apartments with entire families. And cities around Ukraine are welcoming Ukrainian students and setting up job centers so Ukrainians can find work.

ELLIOTT: Biden has repeatedly said that U.S. troops will not go to Ukraine, but he met troops stationed in Poland yesterday. What did he tell them?

KAKISSIS: Biden told them that they are, quote, the organizing principle around which the rest of the free world moves, that the troops are in the middle of a fight between democracies and an oligarchy. There are about 10,500 troops here in Rzeszow right now. They're from the 82nd Airborne in Fort Bragg, N.C. And in early February, before the war, there were about 1,700 here. The president repeatedly thanked them for standing guard on the eastern flank of NATO while war wages literally next door.

ELLIOTT: That's NPR's Joanna Kakissis. Thank you.

KAKISSIS: You're welcome. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.