US presidents rarely travel to areas where the US or its allies do not control airspace.
US President Joe Biden's visit to Ukraine yesterday was kept secret, but Russia, which is at war with Ukraine, was informed ahead of the visit.
US President Joe Biden's visit to Ukraine yesterday was kept secret, but Russia, which is at war with Ukraine, was informed ahead of the visit.
The White House did not provide details about the visit, but national security adviser Jack Sullivan said he had informed Russia of the visit to Kyiv shortly before Joe Biden's departure from Washington to avoid any miscalculations. which could lead the two nuclear-armed countries to a direct confrontation.
According to the Associated Press (AP) news agency, the US president spent more than five hours in the Ukrainian capital, consulting with Zelenskiy on future steps, paying tribute to the troops, and meeting with US embassy staff.
In total, they stayed within the borders of Ukraine for about 23 hours and traveled to and from Poland by train.
US presidents rarely travel to areas where the US or its allies do not control airspace. There is no US military presence in Ukraine except for a small contingent of Marines guarding the embassy in Kyiv.
While Biden was in Ukraine, U.S. surveillance aircraft, including an E-3 Sentry airborne radar and an electronic RC-135W Rivet joint aircraft, were monitoring Kyiv from Polish airspace.
There has been speculation for weeks that Biden will visit Ukraine on February 24, the anniversary of the Russian invasion. But the White House has repeatedly said there are no plans for a presidential visit to Ukraine even after announcing a visit to Poland.
At the White House, Biden's planned visit to Kyiv was briefed to a few aides due to security concerns.
The US president traveled with a small entourage, including only a few senior aides and two journalists, to maintain privacy.
At 4:05 a.m., Biden quietly left Joint Base Andrews near Washington. Sunday, stopped at Ramstein Air Base in Germany and arrived in Ukraine on an overnight train from Poland. He arrived in Kyiv at eight o'clock on Monday morning and returned to Poland by train after one o'clock in the afternoon.
Biden's first trip as president to a war zone is this one. His recent predecessors Donald Trump, Barack Obama, and George W. Bush made surprise visits to Afghanistan and Iraq during their presidencies and met with US troops and leaders of those countries.
Kyiv established even after one year
After meeting with Volodymyr Zelensky at the Mariinsky Palace, Joe Biden announced that Kyiv is still standing after one year.
He added: 'And Ukraine stands. Democracy is established. The United States of America and the entire world support you.
The visit comes at a critical juncture: Joe Biden is trying to keep allies united in support of Ukraine as the war could escalate in the spring.
President Zelenskiy is urging his allies to speed up the delivery of promised weapons systems and is demanding fighter jets from the West. After Biden and Zelensky finished visiting St. Michael's Cathedral as air raid sirens blared, the US president also faced the terror that the people of Ukraine have been living with for nearly a year.
They laid a wreath at the wall monument and observed a moment of silence to pay their respects to the Ukrainian soldiers who died in 2014. In 2014, Russia annexed the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea and a Russian-backed conflict broke out in eastern Ukraine.
In Ukraine, Joe Biden announced an additional half a billion dollars in aid from the United States, in addition to the $50 billion already provided for howitzer guns, anti-tank missiles, air surveillance radars, and other aid.
Ukraine is also pushing for a battlefield system that would allow its forces to hit Russian targets that have been moved beyond the range of HIMARS missiles.
Zelensky said the two presidents talked about long-range weapons and weapons that could still be delivered to Ukraine even though they weren't delivered before but he detailed the new commitments. Not told.
The Ukrainian president added Our negotiations were very productive. US national security adviser Jack Sullivan did not elaborate on any potential new capabilities for Ukraine but said there had been good discussions on the topic.
During his visit to Ukraine ahead of a planned visit to Warsaw, Poland, Biden aims to stress that the US is ready to stand with Ukraine 'as long as it takes' to push back Russian forces. However, public opinion polls show that US and allied support for the provision of arms and direct economic aid has begun to wane.
For Zelensky, it is no small matter for the US president to stand by his side on Ukrainian soil.
US President Joe Biden said I think it's important that there is no doubt about US support for Ukraine in the war.
That dark night a year ago, when the world was almost ready for the defeat of Kyiv or maybe even the end of Ukraine said Joe Biden a Democrat, recalling his conversation with Zelensky on the night of the attack.
A year later the capital is firmly under Ukrainian control. Although things have returned to normal in the city, regular air raid sirens and repeated missile and killer drone attacks against military and civilian infrastructure across the country are constant reminders that the war is still on.
The US president said that the price that Ukraine has had to bear is extraordinarily high. And the sacrifices are huge. But Putin's war of victory is failing.
They're watching for us not to be united Joe Biden said. They thought they could beat us. I don't think they still think so. God knows what they're thinking, but I don't think that's what they're thinking. But he was completely wrong.
Signing a guest book at the presidential palace, Biden praised Zelenskyi and the people of Ukraine, concluding with Slava Ukrainini, or Glory of Ukraine!
The Ukrainian leader said through an interpreter that Biden's visit this year would "bring us closer to victory." He thanked Americans and all those "who value freedom."
