White House Walks Back Biden's Statement About U.S. Training for Ukrainian Troops in Poland

What’s the story?

• The White House is walking back a comment made by President Joe Biden on Monday that was interpreted to mean that U.S. troops in Poland are actively training Ukrainian troops to clarify that there isn’t any physical training occurring. The moves come amid an ongoing debate over the degree to which certain types of U.S. military aid to help Ukraine defend itself from Russia could prompt Vladimir Putin to further escalate his war.
• Biden made that remark during a press conference at the White House on Monday when was asked about a different verbal gaffe he made on Saturday in Poland, which occurred when he praised the Ukrainian people as he spoke to American paratroopers from the 82nd Airborne Division and seemed to imply they would be going to Ukraine:

“Look at how they’re stepping up. And you’re going to see when you’re there. And you — some — some of you have been there. You’re going to see — you’re going to see women, young people standing — standing the middle of — in front of a damn tank, just saying, “I’m not leaving. I’m holding my ground.” They’re incredible.”

• During Monday’s press briefing, Biden was asked to clarify whether that remark meant that U.S. troops were going to Ukraine and seemed to reveal U.S. training for Ukrainian troops in Poland:

Biden: You interpret the language that way. I was talking to the troops. We were talking about helping train the troops in — that are — the Ukrainian troops that are in Poland. That’s what the context.

Reporter: So when you said, “You’re going to see when you’re there,” you were not intending to send U.S. (inaudible)?

Biden: I was referring to with — being with and talking with the Ukrainian troops who are in Poland.

• A number of media outlets and military experts took the president’s statement as implying that American troops in Poland are providing training to Ukrainian troops that hadn’t been publicly revealed by the White House or the Pentagon.
• However, in a report on the matter by Politico, a White House official said, “There are Ukrainian soldiers in Poland interacting on a regular basis with U.S. troops, and that’s what the president was referring to.” A senior administration official also explained to Politico that the American troops told Biden that they verbally instruct Ukrainians on how to use weapons shipped to Poland as they’re loaded for shipment to the front in Ukraine, but don’t go through physical drills.
• White House Communications Director Kate Bedingfield expressed a similar sentiment during a White House presser on Tuesday. Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby on Tuesday said during a press briefing that the Biden administration doesn’t consider that to be training in the “classic sense”.
• Biden was also asked on Monday to clarify whether he was calling for regime change in Russia when he said of Vladimir Putin at the end of a speech in Poland, “For God’s sake, this man cannot remain in power.” That prompted statements by the administration, including by Secretary of State Antony Blinken who explained on Sunday:

“With regard to the President’s incredibly powerful speech yesterday, I think the President, the White House made the point last night that, quite simply, President Putin cannot be empowered to wage war or engage in aggression against Ukraine or anyone else. As you know, and as you’ve heard us say repeatedly, we do not have a strategy of regime change in Russia or anywhere else, for that matter. In this case, as in any case, it’s up to the people of the country in question. It’s up to the Russian people.”

• When Biden was asked on Monday about his statement that Putin cannot remain in power, he explained:

“Number one, I’m not walking anything back. The fact of the matter is I was expressing the moral outrage I felt toward the way Putin is dealing, and the actions of this man — just — just the brutality of it. Half the children in Ukraine. I had just come from being with those families. And so — but I want to make it clear: I wasn’t then, nor am I now, articulating a policy change.  I was expressing the moral outrage that I feel, and I make no apologies for it.

• Later in the press briefing the president expanded on that by saying:

“Nobody believes we’re going to take town — I was going to — I was talking about taking down Putin. Nobody who believes that. Number one. Number two, what have I been talking about all — since this all began? The only war that’s worse than one intended is one that’s unintended. The last thing I want to do is engage in a land war or a nuclear war with Russia. That’s not part of it. I was expressing my outrage at the behavior of this man. It’s outrageous. It’s outrageous. And it’s more an aspiration than anything. He shouldn’t be in power. There’s no — I mean, people like this shouldn’t be ruling countries, but they do. The fact they do — but it doesn’t mean I can’t express my outrage about it.”

— Eric Revell

(Photo Credit: White House photo by Cameron Smith via Flickr / Creative Commons)