President Joe Biden made a surprise visit to Kyiv on Monday showing U.S. support for Ukraine as he met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Biden’s visit to Ukraine came just ahead of the one year anniversary of Russia’s brutal invasion of Ukraine last February that tore apart families and the nation. Despite Russia’s effort, Ukraine still stands and is currently garnering more and more support from Western nations.
During his visit, Biden announced that the United States will provide an additional half-billion dollars worth of assistance. According to FOX News, aid will include “shells for howitzers, anti-tank missiles, air surveillance radars and other aid but no new advanced weaponry.”
With the public led to believe that Biden would just be visiting Poland, his trip to Ukraine was kept secret for security reasons, and without the usual visible security measures taken for a presidential visit to the nation, people believed that Biden was not in the war-torn nation. According to The Daily Beast, the city of Kyiv was “under a complete security lockdown,” that left many concerned without the indication that it was due to the arrival of the President of the United States. Biden’s visit was the first time a president’s “chiseled-in-stone safety precautions” were abandoned.
Despite air raid sirens blaring due to the discovery of Russian aircraft departing airfields in Belarus, Biden walked alongside Zelenskyy in the center of the Ukrainian capital while making their way to a memorial for Ukrainian soldiers who gave their lives fighting for their country against Russia since 2014.
Biden said that his visit to Ukraine was intended to “reaffirm our unwavering and unflagging commitment to Ukraine’s democracy, sovereignty, and territorial integrity,” according to FOX News, adding that Russia was “dead wrong” in underestimating Ukraine’s strength. Biden also confirmed that U.S. economic and military support for Ukraine will continue.