Gen. Tod Wolters, the head of U.S. European Command, contradicted President Joe Biden’s claim that the military is training Ukrainian forces in nearby Poland.
Biden, who misspoke over the weekend telling troops that they’d be going to Ukraine, sought to clarify those remarks on Monday while discussing his new budget request but only added to the confusion.
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“We’re talking about helping train the Ukrainian troops that are in Poland,” the president said, later adding, “I was referring to being with, and talking with, the Ukrainian troops that are in Poland.” After Biden’s remarks, a White House official said, “Ukrainian soldiers in Poland [are] interacting on a regular basis with U.S. troops, and that’s what the president was referring to.”
Wolters, who testified on Tuesday in front of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said U.S. forces aren’t actively training Ukrainians in Poland, though the U.S. has previously done so and pulled those troops out of Ukraine ahead of Russia’s invasion.
“I do not believe we are in the process of currently training military forces from Ukraine in Poland,” he said. “There are liaisons that are there that are being given advice, and that’s different than I think you’re referring to with respect to training.”
A senior defense official told reporters on Monday that the weapons the U.S. are providing to Ukrainian forces are ones they already know how to use, “so nothing has changed from our perspective on those kinds of security assistance details.”
The president was defending statements he made in Europe, which included a handful of other comments that the White House had to clear up afterwards. He said, “For God’s sake, this man cannot remain in power,” which set off a flurry of damage control efforts from others within the administration. An official clarified that he was not discussing “regime change.”
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Biden reiterated his stance to reporters at the White House on Monday.
“I’m not walking any back. The fact of the matter is I was expressing the moral outrage I felt,” the president explained. “But I want to make it clear: I wasn’t then, nor am I now, articulating a policy change. I was expressing moral outrage that I feel. I make no apologies for it.”
Last Thursday, Biden pledged that Russia’s use of chemical weapons against Ukraine would result in a U.S. response “in kind,” which seemingly implies the U.S. would get involved in the war should it occur. The White House later clarified the U.S. would not use chemical weapons under any circumstances.
