President Biden began his third day of diplomacy in Europe with a surprise meeting Saturday morning with Ukrainian officials who traveled to Warsaw from their war-torn nation to plead for more help from the West.
As the month-long battle with invading Russian forces grinds on, Biden sat down for 40 minutes with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba and Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov in a conference room at Warsaw’s Marriott Hotel ahead of his scheduled one-on-one conference with Polish President Andrzej Duda.
Biden lit up as the ministers chatted about the long train and car trip they just made.
“The good thing is that since the beginning of the war I’ve learned how to sleep under any conditions,” Kuleba said. “So I slept on the train, I slept in the car.”
The comment delighted “Amtrak Joe,” who famously commuted home to Wilmington, Del., during his years as a US Senator.
“You’re looking at a fella who’s traveled over a 1,200,000 miles on a train. Literally,” Biden said.
“I learned how to sleep,” he added, as reporters were shooed out of the room.
Biden went on to Warsaw’s Presidential Palace, where Duda greeted him during a brief welcome ceremony in the building’s courtyard.
Poland has borne the brunt of an enormous influx of refugees desperately fleeing the Russian attacks on civilians in every corner of Ukraine.
The two presidents shook hands warmly as Biden arrived, then made their way along a dual receiving line to greet officials of both governments. They paused to hear a band play the two nations’ anthems, then walked a red carpet to review a cadre of Polish troops before heading inside the palace.
