President Biden Visiting War-Torn Ukraine Pledged More Military Aid
By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
KYIV (Worthy News) – Air raid sirens wailed as U.S. President Joe Biden arrived in Kyiv, his first visit to wartorn Ukraine since Russia invaded the country last year.
Biden used his surprise tour to Ukraine’s capital to pledge more massive military aid just days before the first anniversary of Moscow’s invasion on February 24.
U.S. sources said several Ukrainian locations were suggested to the leader of the free world instead of Kyiv, including Lviv in the west, which would have been safer and easier to reach.
But President Biden made clear he wanted to make the 10-hour train journey to Ukraine‘s capital as a symbol and a message to Russia that the West remains united behind Ukraine.
The two reporters allowed to travel with the president were sworn to secrecy till after the president arrived in Kyiv, several sources said. Other journalists were flown to Poland.
Yet after he arrived and embraced his Ukrainian counterpart, Biden soon realized that Europe’s most significant armed conflict since World War Two seemed to have no end.
As he walked with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky outside St. Michael’s, a gold-domed monastery in Kyiv, air raid sirens blared across the city.
RESCUE PLACE
The cathedral’s sky-blue and golden buildings have long symbolized Ukrainian resistance, and Biden met several church leaders.
In 2013 its priests gave shelter to pro-Western protesters who police forces had beaten under the authority of a Kremlin-backed president.
While in Kyiv, Biden unveiled another $500 million in military aid, including weapons, and moves to tighten sanctions against Russia further.
Inspired by Biden, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said he supported Ukraine because of a “strong concern that Ukraine may be tomorrow’s East Asia.”
The U.S. president received praise for his visit to Ukraine, with the trip being described as “very important” in showing Russia that it is not winning the war.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky thanked Biden for his support and described the visit as “the most important visit in the history of Ukrainian-American relations.”
Biden agreed. “You said that you didn’t know when we’d be able to speak again. That dark night one year ago, the world was literally at the time bracing for the fall of Kyiv,” Biden said during joint remarks with Zelenskyy. “Perhaps even the end of Ukraine.”
KYIV STANDING
However, “One year later, Kyiv stands. And Ukraine stands. Democracy stands,” Biden stressed. “The Americans stand with you, and the world stands with you.”
Biden later left for Poland, a close ally in the NATO military alliance and a staunch supporter of Ukraine.
His visit to Kyiv came a day before Russian President Vladimir Putin was due to make an address in which he was expected to set out Russia’s aims for the second year of the invasion he launched.
His address is to be closely followed by the “people’s court” in The Hague, Netherlands.
Although it has no legal powers, prosecutors said they would present evidence that Putin committed “the crime of aggression” by unleashing a devastating war that has killed thousands and left towns and cities in ruins.
Ahead of Putin’s speech, Biden’s visit to Ukraine was “Meticulously planned for months,” and Russia was notified, said Deputy National Security Advisor Jon Finer.
The final decision to go to Kyiv was reportedly made in the Oval Office on Friday. “Obviously, this was all worked very closely between the White House and the highest levels of the Ukrainian government, who have become quite adept at hosting high-level visitors, although not one quite like this,” Finer explained.
HISTORIC TRIP
Several European leaders have visited Kyiv since the war began, but Biden’s trip could be unprecedented, U.S. officials suggested. There are few, if any, examples of U.S. presidents traveling to an active war zone where there is no American troop presence, U.S. media claimed. However Worthy News learned earlier there are U.S. forces inside Ukraine.
He wasn’t the only high-level official in town: Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal also met the head of the International Monetary Fund on Monday as Ukraine hopes to clinch a multi-year support program of at least $15 billion.
IMF Director General Kristalina Georgieva arrived in Kyiv to discuss Ukraine’s economic difficulties.
As these leaders visited Kyiv, European foreign ministers met in Brussels, Belgium, to discuss the 27-nation bloc’s latest sanctions package against Russia.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán already warned in his annual State of the Union speech Hungarian style that his government would not support sanctions targeting Russian energy or Russian church leaders.
The nationalist leader, who is at odds with neighboring countries over his perceived pro-Russia stance, also accused Biden of seeking to move Hungary into a “war camp.”
He said EU-member Hungary and the Vatican are the only vocal nations in Europe promoting peace talks instead of war.
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