The West’s support for Ukraine fighting Russian aggression is unwavering and Russia will pay for its atrocities there, US President Joe Biden told a cheering crowd in Warsaw on February 21.

Biden arrived in the Polish capital the day after a surprise visit to Kyiv, where he walked downtown with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy as an air raid siren sounded a warning against Russian aircraft.

In Warsaw, Biden delivered a speech of support and solidarity with the Ukrainians, the unity of Nato and the West, and the admiration of Poland – “one of our great allies” – for its role in helping handle Europe’s biggest refugee crisis since the World War Two.

Ukraine's war effort may be approaching a crucial moment this spring, as Russia is anticipated to intensify its efforts to seize control of the eastern Donbas region and retain its hold on the Crimean Peninsula. Meanwhile, Ukraine is pinning its hopes on the timely delivery of Western arms to achieve a critical mass that can successfully repel the Russians.

Biden walked to the podium to the tune of Freedom by Norwegian DJ Kygo and with a show of lights from atop the Kubicki Arcades overlooking the gardens of Warsaw’s Royal Castle on the bank of the Vistula.

“Last year I was here at the Royal Castle in Warsaw just weeks after [Russian President] Vladimir Putin had unleashed his murderous assault on Ukraine,” Biden said.

“When Russia invaded, it wasn’t just Ukraine being tested. The whole world faced a test for the ages,” he added. 

“The questions we faced were as simple as they were profound: Would we respond, or would we look the other way?”

Biden referred to a world rife with uncertainty in the first weeks of the invasion when even today’s staunchest allies of Ukraine could not know where the new crisis would lead.

“One year ago, the world was bracing for the fall of Kyiv. I can report that Kyiv stands strong, it stands proud and it stands free,” Biden said to the crowd’s applause.

Among the guests were Poland’s top officials with President Andrzej Duda, Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, representatives of the opposition and thousands of Varsovians.

Like in Kyiv the previous day, Biden pledged unwavering support to Ukraine and vowed to make Russia pay for the atrocities it has been committing on Ukrainian soil.

“We’ll hold accountable those who are responsible for this war.  And we will seek justice for the war crimes and crimes against humanity continuing to be committed by the Russians,” Biden said in a swipe at Putin, who delivered his state of the nation address earlier on the day in Moscow.

In his speech, Putin blamed the West for the war, which, he said, Russia tried to avoid by all means and which was made inevitable by Ukraine’s “neo-Nazi regime”.

“Ukraine will never be a victory for Russia,” Biden said.

“[Putin] thought Nato would fracture and divide. Instead, Nato is more united and more unified than ever — than ever before. He thought he could weaponise energy to crack your Europe’s resolve. Instead, we’re working together to end Europe’s dependence on Russian fossil fuels,” Biden said.

Poland, too, had its moments in Biden’s speech. Biden praised Poland as a steadfast political and military ally of the US.

Biden also said that the Polish people lead “with the heart and determination, showcasing all that’s good about the human spirit” after the war forced millions of refugees out of Ukraine. Well over one million found their new home in Poland,

The US leader reiterated Nato’s commitment to Article 5, which says that an attack on a Nato member is an attack on the alliance. 

US presidents’ voicing verbatim the commitment to Article 5 has become a staple of their speeches in Warsaw, which has grown especially wary of its security since the 2014 takeover of Crimea by Russia, Poland’s age-old enemy.

Unlike last year’s solemn Warsaw speech by Biden, this year’s address ended with Biden posing to pictures with kids waving US, Polish, and Ukrainian flags to the tune of Coldplay’s A Sky Full of Stars.

Biden stays in Warsaw until February 22 when he will attend the summit of the so-called Bucharest Nine, a group of Nato’s Eastern European countries which are close to Russia's borders.