Blinken visits the Polish town bordering Ukraine, where thousands of refugees are staying

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has arrived in Poland to discuss security and humanitarian aid, writes The Guardian.

Blinken is staying in the town of Rzeszow, a southeastern town on the Ukrainian border, which hundreds of thousands of people have passed since the beginning of the invasion from Ukraine. Blinken will meet with Polish officials, including NATO and European Union Foreign Minister Zbigniew Rau.

According to the UN refugee agency, more than 1 million refugees have left Ukraine since the beginning of the Russian invasion on February 24th, mainly in Poland.

Much of the military assistance provided by NATO members for the Ukrainian government forces is going through Poland. NATO has rejected Ukraine's demands to implement a banned flight zone over the country.

Blinken said Friday that NATO, which he called a defence alliance, was seeking to prevent the spread of war beyond Ukraine. We don't want any conflict, but if the conflict comes to us, we're ready for it,” said Blinken, “and we will protect every inch of NATO territory.”