Joe Biden made a daring, unannounced visit to Ukraine, a show of support the White House once considered too risky to attempt

Joe Biden made a daring, unannounced visit to Ukraine, a show of support the White House once considered too risky to attempt
Joe Biden made a daring, unannounced visit to Ukraine, a show of support the White House once considered too risky to attempt

US President Joe Biden visits St. Sophia Cathedral in the capital along with Volodymyr Zelenskyy, President of Ukraine.Photograph by Kay Nietfeld/image alliance through Getty Pictures

  • President Joe Biden arrived in Ukraine’s capital on Monday in a shock visit.

  • His aides had denied that he would visit Kyiv whereas on a journey to neighboring Poland.

  • Most aides have been too anxious about his security to assume the journey was price it, Politico reported.

US President Joe Biden made a shock visit to Ukraine’s capital on Monday, though most of his aides believed up till this month that the journey can be too harmful.

Biden arrived in Kyiv by practice, in an surprising journey throughout an official visit to neighboring Poland. The visit, The New York Times reported, was saved secret over safety considerations.

Many on Biden’s personal group reportedly didn’t need him to make the journey over fears for his security.

Politico reported on Sunday that a journey to Ukraine had been “all however dominated out” after aides appeared into the feasibility, as a result of most felt that the danger to his security meant it would not be price it.

Air raid sirens sounded over the metropolis as Biden visited on Monday, however there have been no indicators of any assaults, Reuters reported.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy instructed Biden that his visit was “an especially essential signal of support for all Ukrainians,” in accordance to the information wire.

Biden used the journey to reaffirm US dedication to Ukraine because it approaches the one-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion.

He stated in a statement that he was assembly with Zelenskyy and his group “for an prolonged dialogue on our support for Ukraine.” He added that he’ll “announce one other supply of important tools, together with artillery ammunition, anti-armor programs, and air surveillance radars to assist defend the Ukrainian folks from aerial bombardments.”

Biden introduced half a billion {dollars} of help and stated that particulars can be given in the subsequent few days, per The Wall Street Journal.

Former secret brokers and White House advance employees told Insider in April 2022 that it could be reckless for Biden to visit Ukraine, with one saying: “You have simply set your self up for thus many unhealthy issues if the president goes.”

The safety scenario in Kyiv has since calmed, and the leaders of different Western nations have visited the metropolis.

However the risk of a new Russian push may heighten the danger for Biden.

Biden’s visit comes simply 4 days earlier than the one year-anniversary of the invasion.

Ukraine, Western leaders and intelligence officers worry Russia may use the anniversary to launch a new offensive, which elevated the potential safety danger in Kyiv for Biden.

Russia’s troops retreated from close to Kyiv final yr, after failing to take the metropolis, and preventing has been concentrated in japanese Ukraine since then.

However Russia’s playbook consists of sending drones and missiles throughout the nation, removed from the entrance traces, and Kyiv’s mayor, Vitali Klitschko, stated that Russia could strive to take the metropolis over again.

Biden stated in his assertion that: “When Putin launched his invasion practically one yr in the past, he thought Ukraine was weak and the West was divided. He thought he may outlast us. However he was useless fallacious.”

He stated he was in Kyiv to “reaffirm our unwavering and unflagging dedication to Ukraine’s democracy, sovereignty, and territorial integrity.”

Biden is due to meet with Poland’s president in addition to the leaders of japanese European international locations after his visit to Ukraine is full.

Learn the unique article on Business Insider

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