WARSAW, Poland — Simply 60 miles from Ukraine, President Joe Biden saluted Poland on Friday for welcoming greater than 2 million refugees who’ve fled Russia’s invasion. Then he met with humanitarian consultants on the bottom about what shall be wanted to mitigate the rising struggling.

Biden mentioned he had hoped to get even nearer to the border however was prevented due to safety considerations. Nonetheless, he mentioned he wished to go to Poland to underscore that the help it’s offering is of “monumental consequence” as Europe experiences the most important refugee disaster since World Battle II.

“It isn’t stopping,” Biden mentioned of the devastation in Ukraine. “It is like one thing out of a science fiction film.”

Biden additionally visited with among the hundreds of U.S. troops who’ve been despatched close to Poland’s border to help with the humanitarian emergency and to bolster the U.S. army presence on the japanese flank of NATO. Greater than 3.5 million Ukrainians have fled the nation for the reason that Feb. 24 invasion, together with about 2.2 million to Poland, in keeping with the United Nations.

Inside just a few days, the variety of refugees displaced from Ukraine since final month will exceed the variety of Syrians routed from their houses over years of battle after a 2011 rebellion became a full-scale conflict, mentioned Samantha Energy, the U.S. Company for Worldwide Improvement administrator.

The American army dedication in Poland was obvious as quickly as Air Power One touched down, rolling previous Patriot missile batteries. Extra {hardware}, together with heavy vehicles and different gear painted with darkish inexperienced and brown camouflage, was current on the airport. A close-by conference heart serves as a base for the U.S. Military’s 82nd Airborne Division.

Polish President Andrzej Duda joined Biden for a briefing with humanitarian consultants.

Duda, by an interpreter, thanked Biden for his help. He mentioned the Poles see the Ukrainians they’re receiving as their “company.”

“That is the identify we need to apply to them,” Duda mentioned. “We don’t need to name them refugees. They’re our company, our brothers, our neighbors from Ukraine, who immediately are in a really troublesome state of affairs.”

Biden’s first cease was with 82nd Airborne troops, at a barber store and eating facility the place he invited himself to take a seat down and share some pizza. The Individuals are serving alongside Polish troops.

With the troops, he shared an anecdote about visiting his late son, Beau Biden, whereas he was deployed in Baghdad and going by his mom’s maiden identify in order not to attract consideration to himself. The president jokingly razzed one service member about his standard-issue brief haircut and severely praised the troops, too.

“You’re the most interesting preventing power on the planet and that is not hyperbole,. Biden mentioned.

He later addressed a bunch of troopers in additional formal remarks, telling them the nation “owes you massive.” He additionally borrowed the phrases of the late Secretary of State Madeleine Albright to underscore their place in a fragile second for the U.S. and its European allies.

“The secretary of state used to have an expression. She mentioned, ‘We’re the important nation,’” Biden informed the troops. “I do not need to sound philosophical right here, however you’re in midst of a battle between democracy and an an oligarch.”

Biden shall be in Warsaw on Saturday for additional talks with Duda and others. The Polish chief had deliberate to welcome him on the airport on Friday, however his aircraft was delayed by a technical drawback.

White Home nationwide safety adviser Jake Sullivan mentioned Biden was trying to hear straight from the American troops and humanitarian consultants in regards to the state of affairs on the bottom and “what additional steps have to be taken to guarantee that we’re investing” U.S. {dollars} in the correct place.

Biden, who spent Thursday lobbying U.S. allies to remain united in opposition to Russia, speculated that what he sees in Poland “will reinforce my dedication to have the US make certain we’re a serious piece of coping with the relocation of all these of us, in addition to humanitarian help wanted each inside Ukraine and out of doors Ukraine.”

Talking in Brussels after conferences with different world leaders, Biden mentioned he had visited many conflict zones and refugee camps throughout his political profession and “it is devastating” to see younger youngsters with out dad and mom or women and men with clean seems on their faces questioning, “My God, the place am I? What is going on to occur to me?”

He mentioned Poland, Romania and Germany should not be left on their very own to cope with the most important refugee disaster in Europe since World Battle II.

“That is a global accountability,” Biden mentioned shortly after he introduced $1 billion in further help to assist Ukrainian refugees. He additionally introduced that the US would soak up as much as 100,000 of these refugees. The White Home has mentioned most Ukrainian refugees finally need to return residence.

Biden mentioned the US is obligated to be “engaged and do all we will to ease the struggling and ache of harmless girls and youngsters and males” who make it throughout the border.

He mentioned, “I plan on making an attempt to see these of us … I hope I get to see lots of people.”

Some refugees interviewed Friday on the prepare station in Przemysl, Poland, mentioned they hoped to finally return to Ukraine. Additionally they weren’t very hopeful about Biden’s go to.

“For certain I should not have any expectations” about Biden, mentioned a tearful Ira Satula, 32, from Kremenchug. Satula was grateful for all of the help and Poland’s heat reception.

“However house is residence, and I hope we’ll be there quickly,” Satula mentioned.

Olga Antonovna, 68, from Chernigov, mentioned “it is actually 50-50” that Biden will assist sufficient.

“I feel that we wanted assist a very long time in the past, lengthy earlier than,” she mentioned.

Sullivan mentioned Biden will give a speech Saturday on “the stakes of this second, the urgency of the problem that lies forward, what the battle in Ukraine means for the world.”