US President Joe Biden travelled to Poland on Friday, trying to signal Western resolve in the face of a Russian invasion that has increasingly turned to a grinding war of attrition. Air Force One landed in the eastern Polish city of Rzeszow – bringing the US president less than 100km from war-torn Ukraine which is fighting Russia’s invasion. The trip comes after Biden attended an emergency summit of Nato and the G7 in Brussels on Thursday, as fears rise that the month-old war in Ukraine could yet spark what the US president has called “World War III”. Nato leaders have decided to activate defences against chemical and nuclear weapons amid fears of a Russian escalation in Ukraine. Moscow has refused to rule out using nuclear weapons. Before his trip to Poland earlier, Biden joined European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to announce a new partnership to reduce the continent’s reliance on Russian energy. Biden asserted that Russian President Vladimir Putin uses energy to “coerce and manipulate his neighbours” and uses the profits from its sale to “drive his war machine”. Under the plan, the US and other nations will increase liquefied natural gas exports to Europe by 15 billion cubic metres this year. Even larger shipments would be delivered in the future. Video shows 2 Russian warships escaping as Ukraine missiles blast docked ship “We aim to reduce this dependence on Russian fossil fuels and get rid of it,” Von der Leyen said. Russian energy is a key source of income and political leverage for Moscow. Almost 40 per cent of the European Union’s natural gas comes from Russia to heat homes, generate electricity and power industry. In Poland, Biden will meet members of the US 82nd Airborne Division, part of Nato’s increasingly muscular deployment to its eastern flank. He will also receive a briefing on the dire humanitarian situation in Ukraine, which has seen more than 3.5 million people pour out of the country, mostly to Poland. Russian media zooms in on Putin defence chief amid ‘disappearance’ rumours Biden is then expected to fly to Warsaw for talks Saturday with Polish President Andrzej Duda. Biden also plans to give a speech in Poland before departs for Washington. Biden’s trip comes as the West faces urgent questions about what more it will do to help Ukraine withstand Russia’s onslaught that has resulted in thousands of civilian deaths. Moscow calls its actions in Ukraine a “special military operation” to disarm its neighbour. But a month into their assault, Russian troops have failed to capture a major Ukrainian city. Unable to capture Ukrainian cities, Russia has resorted to pounding them with artillery and air strikes. Ukraine’s embattled President Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday begged Nato for unlimited weapons to help besieged Ukrainian cities like Mariupol cling on in the face of fierce Russian bombardment. About 100,000 civilians are said to be trapped in the southern port city with dwindling supplies of food, water and power, and with encircling Russian forces slowly grinding the city to dust. Zelensky wants Nato to help Ukraine go further on the offensive with more advanced fighter jets, missile defence systems, tanks, armoured vehicles and anti-ship missiles. But his plea for the floodgates to open and for the West to provide “all the weapons we need” has so far met a qualified response. At an emergency summit in Brussels on Thursday, Nato leaders said they were willing to provide more of the Javelin and Stinger missiles that have repelled scores of Russian tanks and fighter jets. Biden ‘hopeful’ China’s economic ties to West will keep it from arming Russia But the United States has so far ruled out sending fighter jets or other large weapons systems. Biden has repeatedly said he does not want to cross a line into what he says could pit nuclear-armed Russia against Nato. For now, the West is content to squeeze Russia’s economy and Putin’s inner circle. The EU and the G7, also meeting in Brussels on Wednesday pledged to block transactions involving the Russian central bank’s gold reserves, to hamper any Moscow bid to circumvent Western sanctions. And a series of countries announced asset freezes and travel bans on more Kremlin-connected individuals. Agence France-Presse, Reuters and Associated Press