Obama meets Ukraine’s Petro Poroshenko

US President Barack Obama meets with the Ukrainian president-elect amid tensions with Russia over the crisis in the Eastern European nation.

On the second day of his four-day European tour, Obama met Petro Poroshenko in the Polish capital Warsaw on Wednesday before an encounter with Russia’s Vladimir Putin.

Obama said his administration has prepared additional sanctions against Moscow if it continues to “destabilize” Ukraine.

The two leaders discussed the unrest in southern and eastern Ukraine and the reunion of the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea with the Russian Federation.

“The Ukrainian people made a wise selection in someone to lead them through this period,” Obama said after meeting with Poroshenko.

In tandem with the meeting, the United States announced it would send Kiev an additional $5 million in equipment, as Ukraine’s military continues to clash with pro-Russian protesters, especially in the country’s east.

Obama also offered US support to Poroshenko as Kiev tries to settle a gas bill with Russian supplier Gazprom, which has threatened to cut supply.

Ukraine’s economy has been in recession since the middle of 2012.

Obama will arrive in Paris on Thursday night for a private dinner with his French counterpart, Francois Hollande, who also has a dinner date on Thursday night with President Putin. Officials said the three leaders will not be dining together.

The US president will come face to face with Putin during 70th anniversary commemorations of the D-Day landings in Normandy, France on Friday. But the two will not hold one-on-one talks.

Obama’s visit to Europe is meant to reassure NATO allies of US support in Ukraine’s conflict with Russia.

The US president has pledged to increase military support for eastern European member states of the NATO alliance, and said the US plans to spend up to $1 billion in providing support and training for the armed forces of NATO countries on Russia’s borders.

Obama’s trip follows a major foreign policy speech last week at the US Military Academy in which he argued that the American leadership in the world should be exercised mainly by diplomacy, multilateral action and economic pressure rather than through military power.

US Vice President Joe Biden also travels to Kiev on Saturday to attend Poroshenko’s swearing-in as the country’s fifth post-Soviet president.

The US and its allies accuse Moscow of intervening in Ukraine’s internal affairs.