The trip would come on the heels of visits by several top aides, including Vice President Kamala Harris and Secretary of State Antony Blinken. The White House is exploring a potential stop in Poland as well as other places in Europe, according to a person familiar with the planning.
Russia expanded its offensive to western Ukraine on Sunday, firing missiles near the city of Lviv and hitting a large military base close to the Polish border and reportedly killing dozens of people. Poland is a NATO ally, and the military base has held joint drills with NATO and Western military personnel.
Harris visited Poland last week and sought to reinforce Western unity in the face of Russian aggression. The trip was the second time in a month that Harris was dispatched to Europe as the Biden administration seeks to rally international support behind its efforts to punish Russia for its war on Ukraine.
The vice president was tasked with smoothing over an apparent disconnect between the US and Poland over providing Ukraine with fighter jets. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has been pleading for more aircraft amid the invasion, and Poland caught the United States by surprise with a proposal to provide the nation with its Soviet-era fighter jets. The Pentagon rejected Poland’s plan.
After meeting with the Polish President, Harris said at a news conference alongside the foreign leader that the two nations were “united in what we have done and are prepared to help Ukraine and the people of Ukraine.”
As fighting intensifies in Ukraine and the invasion runs into its third week, civilians are being caught in the crossfire. There have been heavy explosions in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv and authorities have reported at least one person dead and multiple people injured after a residential building in a Kyiv suburb was shelled on Monday.
More than 2.5 million Ukrainian refugees have been forced to flee in the past two weeks amid the Russian invasion, according to the United Nations.
The US and its allies have issued a wide range of actions in recent weeks intended to punish Moscow for the invasion, including harsh new sanctions and export controls aimed at imposing severe costs on the Russian economy.
This story has been updated with additional information.
