U.S. President Joe Biden paid an unannounced visit to Ukraine on Monday to meet with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in a defiant display of Western solidarity with a country still fighting what he (Biden) called ‘a brutal and unjust war’ days before the one-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion.
The President made a surprise stop in Kyiv Monday, ahead of a scheduled trip to Poland four days before the first anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine – against the wishes of the secret service and the Pentagon – following a covert operation to conceal his whereabouts.
He was seen walking alongside Ukrainian president Volodimir Zelensky on the streets of Kyiv after he became the first sitting American president to visit an active warzone without presence of active US Military personnel.
Biden came under a cloak of secrecy into a war zone to demonstrate what he called America’s ‘unwavering support’ of the effort to beat back Russian forces nearly a year after they invaded the country.
‘One year later, Kyiv stands,’ Biden declared after meeting Zelenskyy at Mariinsky Palace. Jamming his finger for emphasis on his podium, against a backdrop of three flags from each country, he continued:
‘And Ukraine stands. Democracy stands. The Americans stand with you, and the world stands with you.’
Biden spent more than five hours in the Ukrainian capital, consulting with Zelenskyy on next steps, honoring the country’s fallen soldiers and seeing U.S. embassy staff in the besieged country.
According to the New York Times, Biden left Washington in midnight without notice.
Air Force One took off at 4:15 a.m. on Sunday East Coast time.
Just a few reporters sworn to secrecy and deprived of their telephones were brought with him, along with Jake Sullivan, the president’s national security adviser; Jen O’Malley Dillon, his deputy chief of staff; and Annie Tomasini, the director of Oval Office operations.
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