US confirms arrival of Patriot missiles in Poland and announces aid to Ukraine

US Vice President Kamala Harris confirmed Thursday that two batteries of Patriot anti-missile systems have been deployed in Poland and announced that her country will deliver 50 billion dollars to Ukraine through the United Nations World Food Programme.

Harris said during an official visit to Poland that the shipment of the missile batteries is proof of Washington's "commitment" to the country, where most of the refugees fleeing Ukraine because of the war there have arrived.

In Warsaw, the US Vice President discussed the situation in Ukraine with members of the Polish government and recalled that the United States has deployed 4,700 additional troops to Poland, in addition to the 5,000 that are stationed there on a regular basis.

At a press conference with Polish President Andrzej Duda, Harris reiterated Washington's commitment to Article 5 of the NATO Treaty, on mutual defence of its members, and stressed that "every inch of territory" of the alliance will be defended.

"We have provided military, humanitarian and security support and this is an ongoing process," he said, declining to elaborate on the possibility of a possible delivery of fighter jets to Ukraine.

This week, the Polish government had offered to trade its MiG 29 aircraft to NATO to make them available to Ukraine in exchange for US aircraft, a proposal that Washington said had not been discussed before it was made public.

"I'm going to be very clear, the United States and Poland are united, in what we have done and what we will do to help Ukraine. Full stop," Harris said.

Duda, for his part, said the proposal corresponded with Poland's desire to behave as a "credible member of NATO" and to respond to requests from the Ukrainian side.

Harris said that the announcement of $50 billion for Ukraine through the UN's World Food Programme comes on top of a recent decision by the US Congress to approve a further $13.6 billion to be distributed in the region.

The aim is to avoid a humanitarian catastrophe in Ukraine and to support the countries in the region in taking in the more than 1.5 million refugees who have so far fled the country, a figure that Harris said was "unprecedented".

Both Duda and Harris condemned the attack on the maternity and children's hospital in Mariupol and called for an investigation into whether Russia has committed war crimes in Ukraine.