President Biden departed Kyiv on Monday after spending several hours with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. White House officials said the trip was meticulously planned over the last several months, with Biden giving the final sign off on it on Friday from the Oval Office; it was Biden’s first visit to the country since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine started nearly one year ago. Biden and Zelensky discussed future support for Ukraine during the war, walking around the central portion of the capital with Biden pledging additional support. Zelensky posted a photo of him and Biden shaking hands in Kyiv on Telegram, saying: “Joseph Biden, welcome to Kyiv! Your visit is an extremely important sign of support for all Ukrainians.”
On Monday, the Department of Defense authorized more support for Ukraine, with the U.S. pledging to send additional ammunition for the Lockheed Martin HIMARS, a long-range rocket launcher, as well as howitzers. Additionally, the Biden Administration approved a supply of Javelin missiles, anti-armor rockets, artillery rounds, mortar rounds, night vision devices, air surveillance radar systems and morel, valued at an estimated $460 million. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Monday also authorized an additional $10 million to support ongoing emergency assistance to support the war-torn country’s energy infrastructure.
Biden’s surprise trip was only confirmed early on Monday in a White House statement: “When [Russian President Vladimir] Putin launched his invasion nearly one year ago, he thought Ukraine was weak and the West was divided. He thought he could outlast us. But he was dead wrong.” White House Communications Director Kate Bedingfield said via teleconference that the trip sends the message of Biden’s commitment to the Ukrainian people: “He wanted to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with President Zelensky and remind the world, as we approach the one-year anniversary of the invasion, that Kyiv still stands and the United States will not be deterred from standing with Ukraine.”
Biden’s trip marks the first time in modern U.S. history that a president entered a war zone with no active U.S. military presence. Ukrainian authorities shut down much of central Kyiv to facilitate the visit. The surprise visit ended late Monday with Biden traveling from Kyiv to Poland’s Rzeszw-Jasionka Airport, where he arrived at 10:04 p.m., local time, and boarded Air Force One for the roughly 50-minute flight to Warsaw, to begin his two-day visit in Poland.
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