By Nandita Bose
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Joe Biden on Monday said he will visit Poland but does not know when after reports suggested he is considering a trip to Europe to coincide with the Feb. 24 anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Biden also told reporters that the United States will not be providing F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine. Ukraine’s defense minister last week said he will now push for Western fourth- generation fighter planes such as the U.S. F-16 after securing supplies of battle tanks.
Ukraine won a huge boost for its troops last week when Germany and the United States announced plans to provide heavy tanks, ending weeks of diplomatic deadlock on the issue. Poland, Ukraine’s neighbor on its western border, has positioned itself as one of the Kyiv government’s staunchest allies.
Earlier on Monday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy met Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen in the southern city of Mykolaiv during a rare visit by a foreign leader to a region close to the front lines.
During the meeting, Zelenskiy said Russia was not ceasing its attacks on the front lines in eastern Ukraine, and pouring in more fighters from the Wagner group, a Russian private military company.
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(Reporting by Nandita Bose; Writing by Eric Beech; editing by Grant McCool)