A plane carrying Polish president Andrzej Duda was forced to make an emergency landing while travelling to meet Joe Biden.
Mr Duda had been flying to meet his US counterpart in the southeastern city of Rzeszow on Friday afternoon when a defect caused the Polish Air Force aircraft to return to Warsaw.
The head of Duda’s office, Pawel Szrot, said the Polish leader did not face any danger and he later boarded a different aircraft and headed back to Rzeszow.
Biden travelled to Poland to get a firsthand look at international efforts to help some of the millions of Ukrainian refugees fleeing the Russian invasion in their country, and speak to American troops bolstering Nato’s eastern flank.
His first stop was to meet soldiers from the US Army’s 82nd Airborne Division stationed in the area of Rzeszow airport as part of Nato’s protection of the alliance’s eastern flank. TV footage showed him sharing pizza and chatting with several military personnel.
Biden was due to receive a briefing on the humanitarian response to help civilians sheltering from Russian attacks inside Ukraine and to respond to the growing flow of refugees fleeing Ukraine.
He told reporters in Brussels on Thursday that his visit would “reinforce my commitment to have the United States make sure we are a major piece of dealing with the relocation of all those folks, as well as humanitarian assistance needed both inside Ukraine and outside Ukraine”.
In the evening, Biden was to travel to the capital Warsaw for talks with Duda. On Saturday, he was scheduled to give what the White House described as a major address.
Poland hopes Biden’s visit will underline the security assurances already made by the US that it will defend “every inch” of Nato territory. Warsaw is keen to see even more US troops stationed on Nato’s eastern flank.
Poland is also likely to raise the idea of an international peacekeeping mission involving troops being stationed in Ukraine, an idea first proposed by ruling party leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski during a trip to Kyiv.
Additional reporting by Reuters
