US President Joe Biden arrived in Kyiv in a surprise visit on Monday, strolling through the center of the capital with President Zelensky as air raid sirens rang out across Ukraine.
Biden said a new military aid package worth $500 million to be announced on Tuesday will include more ammunition for High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems.
"One year later, Kyiv stands. And Ukraine stands. Democracy stands," Biden said, speaking alongside Zelensky at the Ukrainian president's official residence, the Mariinsky Palace.
"America stands with you and the world stands with you. Kyiv has captured a part of my heart. I thought it was critical that there not be any doubt, none whatsoever, about U.S. support for Ukraine in the war."
Russian President Vladimir "Putin thought Ukraine was weak and the West was divided. He thought he could outlast us," he added.
The U.S. president noted he'd visited Ukraine six times as vice-president, adding: "I knew I would be back."
"Joseph Biden, welcome to Kyiv! Your visit is an extremely important sign of support for all Ukrainians," Zelensky said on Telegram.
The visit comes just a few days before Feb. 24, which marks one year since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Later on Monday it was reported that the Kremlin had been given a heads up to Moscow “hours” ahead of Biden’s “risky” surprise trip to avoid any chance of conflict, a senior White House aide said.
The Ukrainian capital was in lock-down as security troops and police cordoned off sections of the Kyiv center.
Biden and Zelensky were filmed strolling through Mikhailovskaya Square in central Kyiv as air raid sirens rang out.
According to air defense statements, the warnings were triggered by the take-off of Russian fighter jets in neighboring Belarus, a regular late-morning occurrence.
Ukrainian MP Lesia Vasylenko first confirmed the news in a tweet, saying: "Yes, confirmed @POTUS in #Kyiv.
"Welcome Mr President! Looking forward to the announcements following the air raid sirens experience."
It was announced that Biden had wrapped up his visit and left Kyiv around 2pm Ukraine time.
It was the first visit by a U.S. president to Ukraine in almost fifteen years, when George Bush visited in 2008.
Today is also a day of remembrance in Kyiv as Feb. 20 marks the Day of the Heavenly Hundred Heroes when Ukrainians remember those who were killed on this day in 2014 during the Revolution of Dignity.
As the Maidan Museum explains: “The participants of the Revolution of Dignity, who were killed by security officers and their mercenaries, received the name of the Heavenly Hundred. The official count of them is one hundred and seven.
“They were people of different nationalities, age groups, gender and educational background, from various regions of Ukraine and from abroad, successful entrepreneurs and poor pensioners, scientists, artists, students, and activists.
“The youngest one, Nazarii Voitovych, was sixteen. The oldest one, Ivan Nakonechnyi, was eighty-three.”
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Comments (3)
Thank you and God bless you Kyiv Post for allowing my comments to be seen. Just look at the blow back I have received. Why? Because I type TRUTH, and the Demagogic Cult, formerly known as the Democratic Party here in the United States cannot handle the truth.
Look, six years ago, our illegitimate President Joe BRIBEn bragged at the Council on Foreign Relations that he extorted one billion dollars in US Federal energy aid to The Ukraine to get Ukraine to fire the prosecutor who was investigating corruption in Burisma. The Ukraine is getting smoozed by our corrupt, illegitimate President. And President Trump been rightfully reinstated, Putrid would have never dared invading The Ukraine in the first place.
@Jack Griffin,
@Jack Griffin,
I really do believe Joe BRIBEn did nothing to deter Putin from invading The Ukraine because our US Intelligence and Military saw The Ukraine as a worthy proxy to destroy Putin's anti-West government in the Kremlin. Joe BRIBEn is a Washington, D.C. fossil firmly in the pockets of the US Military Industrial Complex. Call me cynical but I still possess neurons connected to the Vietnam War.
Had President-elect Trump been rightfully reinstated in the White House, this atrocity would have never begun. President Trump is anti war. For the first time in some 40 years no new military actions arose during President-elect Trump's first term in office. That's why the powers that be in Washington, D.C. had him exiled by massive ballot fraud in 2020.
@Jack Griffin, Ukrainians are well aware of the difference between trump and Biden and are aware of trump's attempt to bribe Zelensky to dig up dirt on Biden if he wanted the money that the US Congress had already approved for Ukraine military assistance. This matter was dealt with here on Kiev Post long before Putin invaded Ukraine. In fact, the Biden matter was already investigated by Ukraine and was found to be baseless. Rather than attempting to mislead Ukrainians here, you have reaffirmed to them that they cannot trust trump and those Republicans who follow him, and they are aware of the Big Lie that the presidential election was not fraudulent, and that Biden is the legitimate president of the U.S.. I do not understand why you think they are so uninformed of the facts that you can deceive them by your posting. They are much smarter than you apparently think they are.
@Virginia, You're a blind fool Virginia. You make a very worth disciple of the Demagogic Cult that is corrupt as hell and is hell bent on destroying America.
For all of you in The Ukraine witnessing this "conversation", Virginia represents well the brain-washing that occurs daily here in the United States. We are more the Soviet Union than ever before because we do not have an independent press. Rather, we have the Left Bank Propaganda outhouses for the Demagogic Cult, formerly known as the Democratic Party..
@Virginia, I believe I saw mr Griffin on facebook (or was it here?) around the start of this last russian war in Ukraine (that will be 9 years back from now), and his rhetoric hasn't changed a lot. Actually, hasn't at all :D