The Vice President of the United States of America, Kamala Harris, is coming to Bucharest on Friday, in his first visit to Romania since taking office. Kamala Harris is on an official visit to Romania amid the security threats posed by the aggression that Russia has launched against Ukraine.
Kamala Harris will meet Romanian President Klaus Iohannis at Cotroceni Presidential Palace on Friday, with Romanian Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca also attending the meeting. The official reception ceremony will take place at 14.00.
President Iohannis and the vice president of the United States will hold one-on-one talks and official talks, and they will have a joint press conference at 15.30.
On Thursday, before attending the informal European Council meeting in Versailles, President Klaus Iohannis said he would discuss with US Vice President Kamala Harris the NATO position on the Eastern Flank, the Allied Combat Group to be hosted by Romania and about the American soldiers who came to our country.
The Romanian Presidential Administration had said that the presence of Vice President Kamala Harris in Bucharest reaffirms the strength of the bilateral strategic partnership and the firm commitment of the United States to support the security of Romania and NATO allies on the Eastern Flank, while reflecting the US administration’s appreciation for in the context of the current security threats posed by the illegal aggression of the Russian Federation, as well as in the management of refugee flows from the borders and the provision of humanitarian assistance.
Kamala Harris was in Poland on Thursday
On Thursday, the American VP was in Poland, where she met Polish President Andrezj Duda. Harris announced that the U.S. “directed two Patriot missile defense systems to Poland”, while also thanking Poland for their help with the Ukrainina refugees flows.
“The United States commitment to Article 5 is ironclad. The United States is prepared to defend every inch of NATO territory. The United States takes seriously that an attack against one is an attack against all. We are here today to restate that commitment, but also do what we must do to reinforce our support of Poland and our Allies through the EU and NATO Alliance.
In particular, as it relates to troop deployment, we have recently deployed an additional 4,700 American troops to Poland. That’s on top of the years of rotation of about 5,000 American troops in Poland.
We are pleased to have announced this week that we have directed two Patriot missile defense systems to Poland. And today, I can announce that we have delivered those Patriot systems to Poland. We do this as a reminder and as a demonstration of our commitment to the security of our Allies and our commitment, in particular, to Poland at this moment in time.
What is at stake this very moment are some of the guiding principles around the NATO Alliance and, in particular, the issue and the importance of defending sovereignty and territorial integrity, in this case, of Ukraine.
As President Duda has described, we have been witnessing for weeks — and certainly just in the last 24 hours — atrocities of unimaginable proportion. A maternity hospital, a children’s hospital, where we have witnessed pregnant women who were there for care, for one reason — being taken out, because they required care because of an act of violence — unprovoked, unjustified.
I am here, in Poland, as an expression of the enduring and important relationship between the United States and Poland that, again, has been longstanding, but, in particular on the issue of Ukraine, is unified and is clear. We will do everything together, in partnership, in solidarity, to support what is necessary at this very moment in terms of the humanitarian and security needs of Ukraine and the Ukrainian people,” Kamala Harris stated.
During her trip to Warsaw, Poland, U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris announced nearly $53 million in new humanitarian assistance from the United States government, through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), to support innocent civilians affected by Russia’s unjustified invasion of Ukraine. This additional assistance includes support to the UN World Food Program (WFP) to provide lifesaving emergency food assistance to meet immediate needs of hundreds of thousands affected by the invasion, including people who are displaced from their homes and who are crossing the border out of Ukraine. In addition, it will support WFP’s logistics operations to move assistance into Ukraine, including to people in Kyiv.
This assistance builds on the United States’ announcement less than two weeks ago of nearly $54 million in humanitarian assistance to provide critically needed health supplies, food assistance, high thermal blankets, and other relief.
“The President (Duda) and I also talked about the fact that, as he mentioned, Poland has taken, in just a very short period of time, in excess of one and a half million refugees in from Ukraine. And that has put an extraordinary burden on Poland and the people of Poland. And so, we will continue with the support that we can give you, Mr. President, in terms of the work that you and the people of Poland have been doing to bear this burden, but in a way that really has been with such grace and such generosity.
We also are pleased to have shared with the President what our United States Congress has done, which is there is a commitment now of $13.6 billion in human- — humanitarian and security assistance that will be then distributed and shared with Ukraine and the people of this region and Europe, all again understanding that this moment in time requires both a humanitarian response as well as security assistance.”
The United States is the largest provider of humanitarian assistance to Ukraine and has provided $159 million in overall humanitarian assistance to Ukraine since October 2020, including nearly $107 million in the past two weeks in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. This includes food, safe drinking water, shelter, emergency health care, and winterization services to communities affected by ongoing fighting.
To date, two million people have been forced to flee Ukraine due to the conflict, and an estimated one million are displaced inside Ukraine. At least 12 million people are in need of humanitarian aid across Ukraine. The United States continues to stand with the people of Ukraine and will continue to work to meet immediate needs and save lives.