He described the devastation in Ukraine as “something out of a science fiction movie”. However, the US President added: “The Ukrainian people have a lot of backbone. “They have a lot of guts.” He gave the example of a 30-year-old woman standing in front of a tank with a rifle, reminiscent of the famous “Tank Man” photo, of a man standing provocatively in front of the tanks after the overwhelming demonstrations in Tiananmen Square. “This is Tiananmen Square, in the square,” Biden said. Earlier on Friday, he spoke to US troops in the Polish city of Rzeszow, about 50 miles from the border with Ukraine. Speaking to the military, he said: “You are in the middle of a battle between democracies and authoritarians. “What you are doing is consequential, really consequential.” The president said he was “disappointed” that he could not see the humanitarian crisis caused by the conflict “first hand”. “They will not let me, I guess, cross the border and take a look at what is happening in Ukraine,” he said.
