KYIV - US President Joe Biden made an unannounced visit to the Ukrainian capital Kyiv on Monday, days before the first anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Air raid sirens blared across the Ukrainian capital as he was there but there were no reports of Russian missile or air strikes.
Mr Biden was spotted outside St Michael’s Golden-Domed Monastery with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on a square in central Kyiv where burnt-out Russian tanks have been placed.
He arrived in Kyiv at around 8am after a train ride from near Ukraine’s border with Poland that took almost 10 hours.
Mr Biden had slipped out of Washington without notice early on Sunday on the presidential Air Force One plane. Just a few reporters sworn to secrecy and deprived of their phones were brought with him along with his staff, US media reported.
The Ukrainian capital was in a tight security lockdown with traffic halted on some streets.
In a speech, Mr Biden commended Ukraine’s courage in the war and noted that he had visited Kyiv six times during his time as US vice-president.
“I knew I would be back,” he said.
“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,” Mr Biden added, praising Ukrainians for their bravery in resisting Russia’s invasion.
“Kyiv has captured a part of my heart... The cost that Ukraine has had to pay is extraordinarily high. Sacrifices have been far too great.”
Wearing a tie striped in the colours of Ukraine’s blue and yellow flag, the US President promised a further US$500 million (S$668 million) worth of weaponry, including artillery ammunition, anti-armour systems and air defence radars, plus tighter sanctions on Russia.
Mr Biden said the package would be announced on Tuesday, and that Washington would also provide more ammunition for high mobility artillery rocket systems, or Himars, in Ukraine’s possession.
“Your visit is an extremely important sign of support for all Ukrainians,” Mr Zelensky said. The two leaders last met in December, when the Ukrainian President travelled to Washington on his first trip abroad since the invasion.
The visit to Kyiv was conducted covertly because of security concerns, with Mr Biden departing Washington without notice after he and his wife had a rare dinner out at a restaurant on Saturday, US media reported.
He was already scheduled to arrive in Polish capital Warsaw on Tuesday for a two-day visit, and White House officials had repeatedly brushed off questions over a possible trip to Ukraine while in Europe.
The Biden administration has provided some US$30 billion in security aid since Mr Putin sent Russian forces into Ukraine on Feb 24, 2022, for what Moscow maintains is a “special military operation”.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said Mr Biden’s trip to Kyiv clearly signalled to Russia that “no one is afraid of you”, and praised the visit as the “victory of the Ukrainian people and President Volodymyr Zelensky”. In a statement, he said the visit was “historic” and that both Mr Biden and Mr Zelensky were pleased with their talks on Monday.
Mr Biden’s visit came a day before Mr Putin was due to make a major address, expected to set out Russia’s aims for the second year of the invasion.
The anniversary has taken on more than symbolic significance, becoming what the West views as motivation for the war’s deadliest phase as Moscow hurls thousands of conscripts and mercenaries into a winter offensive.
In Poland, the US President is expected to meet President Andrzej Duda.
Russia has secured only scant gains so far in assaults in frozen trenches up and down the eastern front in recent weeks.
Kyiv and the West see Russia’s heightened assault as a push to give Mr Putin victories to tout a year after he launched Europe’s biggest war since World War II. REUTERS
