Biden Compared Ukraine’s Resistance to Russian Invasion to the “Tiananmen Square”

After landing in Rzeszow near the Ukrainian border on March 25, President Joe Biden spoke to the bravery of Ukrainian citizens rising up to counter the Russian invasion.

He also praised the bravery of Ukrainians standing in front of Russian tanks, comparing them to the protesters who resisted Chinese government crackdown. ‘When you see a 30-year-old woman standing there in front of a tank with a rifle. I mean, talk about what happened in Tiananmen Square? This is Tiananmen Square, squared,’ Biden said. He was referring to the iconic image of a lone man stood in front of a government army tank in Tiananmen Square, trying to stop the Chinese government’s crackdown on June 5th, 1989, when Beijing cracked down on students fighting for democracy and rebelling against the government.

Biden also addressed members of the storied 182nd Airborne Division on Friday, praising the troops for both assisting in the rescue and helping to protect NATO’s eastern flank.

Polish President Duda, who suffered an apparent plane error earlier in the day, thanked the U.S. military for providing security and relief efforts assisted by U.S. based NGOs. He called the roughly 2 million Ukrainian refugees in his country “guests.” As for the U.S. military, he said: “They are guarding the security of the Polish border and guarding the security also of the entire European community.”