The current visit of the US president to Ukraine may go down in history as the most classified and at the same time risky trip by a world leader to a country at war.
Security measures in preparation for the visit became unprecedented, even taking into account the fact of the war in Ukraine.
Before that, the White House claimed that J.Biden would only visit Poland on February 20-22, the American president does not plan to make other stops in Europe. Even on Sunday evening, in the public schedule for Monday published by the White House administration, the president was still in Washington and was supposed to leave for Warsaw only in the evening, although in fact he was already in the Polish capital, from where he arrived by train to Kyiv.
According to Western media, most of Biden’s entourage dissuaded him from such a departure from established protocols, saying that the risk should not exceed the bonuses of the visit. But, obviously, the demonstration of faith in the victory of Ukraine and the determination to support it on the eve of the anniversary of the invasion have become fundamental for the American president. White House officials said Biden gave the go-ahead for the trip on February 17, after a final security briefing.
Although the US President’s National Security Adviser J.Sullivan confirmed to journalists the information that Washington had warned the russians about Joe Biden’s visit to Ukraine to avoid a conflict, his actual appearance in Kyiv turned out to be a surprise to which putin did not know how to react. During almost 6 hours of Biden’s stay in Kyiv, an air alert was announced once in connection with the takeoff of a russian MiG-31 carrying a “Kinzhal” missile in belarus, but the kremlin did not dare to take “more decisive” steps.
It was to the sounds of air raids in the capital that the US president, together with Volodymyr Zelenskyy, honored the memory of the fallen defenders of Ukraine.
During a joint briefing with the Ukrainian president, Joe Biden proved the main messages of the United States:
1. This year, the United States played an important role in building a coalition in support of Ukraine “from the Atlantic to the Pacific” and providing unprecedented military, economic and humanitarian assistance, and this comprehensive support from allies will continue.
2. There is broad bipartisan support for Ukraine in Washington, although some Republicans have opposed future aid.
3. Russia will definitely lose, putin and his entourage will go to court.
4. The US and its allies will provide Ukraine with all the necessary weapons to “most effectively help Ukraine in its struggle for freedom and independence.”
In addition to public assurances of further support for Ukraine, the US president also made more specific things public. Biden announced a new $500 million military aid package that would include more military equipment, including artillery ammunition, HIMARS missiles, Javelin man-portable anti-tank systems and howitzers. During the face-to-face meeting, the presidents of both countries discussed “long-range weapons and weapons that can still be delivered to Ukraine, even if they were not delivered before.” Biden also announced additional sanctions against representatives of the elite and companies that try to circumvent these sanctions or support the russian military machine.
J. Biden has now completed his historic visit to Kyiv and left for Warsaw, where he will arrive in the evening of February 20 to meet with the President of Poland A. Duda and the leaders of other countries of the Eastern flank of NATO, in particular with the leaders of the Bucharest Nine countries. During this meeting on Wednesday, Biden will “reaffirm the unwavering support of the United States.”
❗️ This is the first visit of the US president to Ukraine since the beginning of the full-scale russian invasion and the second meeting between the two presidents since mid-December, when V. Zelenskyy went to Washington to ensure further support of the United States against the background of the full-scale russian invasion. It is very symbolic that the US president started his visit to Europe with a trip to Kyiv a few days before the anniversary of russia’s invasion of Ukraine. This is an unequivocal confirmation that the future of the United States is to some extent being shaped today in Ukraine, therefore it guarantees long-term American support for Ukraine and its people. In addition, against all odds, the visit of one of Ukraine’s most important Western partners is a clear signal to the kremlin and to putin himself that the West is no longer afraid of putin’s nuclear, energy, and grain threats and will support Ukraine as long as it takes for its victory.
Biden’s statements about the West’s support for Ukraine were also confirmed by the results of the Munich Security Conference. The summit concluded that world leaders recognize that Ukraine should receive the most modern lethal weapons possible, and the commander of NATO’s joint forces in Europe, General Christopher Cavoli, during a closed briefing, advocated the transfer of long-range missiles and F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine.
