Feb 20: President Biden visits President Zelensky in Kyiv
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President Biden visits President Zelensky in Kyiv- February 20, 2023
What a great way to start off the week! I was thrilled to follow the visit live, coffee in hand, the latest photos, tweets and official releases flying between us on the messaging chat. My colleagues and I were moved by these images and speeches.
And what a way to show Putin the middle finger: President Biden chose to go to Kyiv amongst many other options available to him. The only concern he had was that his trip might pose a security threat to others on the trip and in Kyiv.
Let me leave you to the collection of tweets, videos, commentary and photos of Biden’s history visit to President Zelensky in Kyiv.
President Volodymyr Zelensky has posted an image to Telegram of him together with US president Joe Biden in Kyiv, alongside the message “Joseph Biden, welcome to Kyiv! Your visit is an extremely important sign of support for all Ukrainians.”
CNN- President Biden's trip to Kyiv on Monday was shrouded in secrecy, a reflection of the steep security concerns of visiting an active war zone. Air Force One departed Joint Base Andrews under cover of darkness at 4:15 a.m. ET on Sunday. Reporters aboard the plane were not allowed to carry their devices with them.
Biden's public schedule didn't reflect the trip, and White House officials repeatedly said last week that a visit to Ukraine was not in the works. On Saturday evening, before he departed, Biden went out to dinner with his wife in Washington. He wasn't seen in public again until arriving in Kyiv on Monday morning.
CNN reporting that US President Joe Biden was presented with a range of options for a visit to Ukraine, but decided that a trip to Kyiv made the most sense, a source familiar with the matter said. The president never seriously considered any other options other than the capital for his visit to Ukraine, the source said. If he was going to go to Ukraine, he wanted to go to the capital.
Biden’s Deputy National Security Ad, Jonathan Finer, has been giving some details about Biden’s trip, saying it has been months in the making and finally green-lighted on Friday after a huddle of top officials in the Oval Office. Finer did not confirm Biden’s mode of transport, however. We are told that and further logistical details will be provided once it is safe to do so.
“The travelling party accompanying the president was extremely small, consisting basically of a handful of his closest aides, a small medical team, a photographer and the security package,” Finer said.
This visit was meticulously planned over a period of months involving several offices in the White House: the chief of staff’s office, the White House military office, as well as a small number of colleagues from the Pentagon, Secret Service, and of course, the intelligence community which offered threat assessments on the visit.
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 night. Biden had already been publicly scheduled to arrive in Warsaw on Tuesday morning for a two-day visit, and officials had repeatedly denied that there were any other plans they could announce about a trip to Ukraine while he was there. Indeed, the White House on Sunday night issued a public schedule for Monday showing the president still in Washington and leaving in the evening for Warsaw, when in fact he was already half a world away.
Missy Ryan & Alice Martins, Biden makes surprise trip to Ukraine ahead of Russian invasion anniversary- The Washington Post
President Biden made a dramatic, unannounced visit to Kyiv on Monday, in a display of strong American support for Ukraine just four days before the anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion.
The high-risk visit, to a Ukrainian capital that has been under threat of missile attacks, signals continued commitment from the United States, the largest financial and military backer of Ukraine’s effort to repel Russian invaders from its territory.
Biden was spotted outside St. Michael Golden-Domed Monastery with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. The Ukrainian capital was in a tight security lockdown with car traffic halted and even pedestrians blocked from certain streets. Shortly afterward, an air raid siren went off in the city.
Biden has insisted the U.S. will continue to back Ukraine for “as long as it takes” despite flagging support among the American public and no near-term prospect of peace talks to end the conflict.
President Biden’s thread
When 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.
Over the last year, the United States has built a coalition of nations from the Atlantic to the Pacific to help defend Ukraine with unprecedented military, economic, and humanitarian support – and that support will endure.
Nick Schifrin, who is foreign affairs and defence correspondent at PBS’ Newshour, has the White House media pool report on Ukraine president Zelensky and US president Joe Biden’s public words during their joint appearance in Kyiv. It reads:
President Zelenskiy spoke first, in English, thanking Americans for their support. He said that when the war started the first phone call of support he got was from the White House. President Biden spoke second. He talked about it being important that the president of the US be here on the anniversary of the war, and said it’s critical that there not be any doubt, none whatsoever, about US support. He said the Ukrainian people have stepped up in a way that no others have in the past. “For all the disagreement we have in our Congress on some issues, there is significant agreement on support for Ukraine. It’s not just about freedom in Ukraine, it’s about democracy at large.”
Live, Biden announces half-billion dollars in assistance to Ukraine on surprise trip- CNN
President Joe Biden announced a half-billion dollars of additional assistance to Ukraine during a surprise visit to Ukraine on Monday.
Biden, in joint remarks alongside Ukrainian President Zelensky, said the package would include more military equipment, including artillery ammunition, more javelins and Howitzers.
Zelensky said he and Biden spoke about “long range weapons and the weapons that may still be supplied to Ukraine even though it wasn’t supplied before.”
In remarks, Biden spoke about the resilience of the Ukrainian resistance as the war enters its second year.
Biden pledges $500 million in aid to Ukraine during surprise trip. During his surprise visit to Kyiv, President Biden pledged an extra $500 million in aid to Ukraine. The assistance package will consist of military equipment – javelins, howitzers, and artillery ammunition.
President Zelensky said negotiations between his and US President Joe Biden’s teams in Kyiv were a major boost to his country. “This conversation brings us closer to victory,” Zelensky said, speaking alongside Biden on Monday.
The results of this visit will surely be seen, and will surely have repercussions on the battlefield in liberating our territories,” he added. “Ukrainians remember the focus, attention, the attitude that President Biden and the US have given to Ukraine,” Zelensky added. “I thank you for this level of US-Ukraine cooperation,” he said.
Metropolitan Lavrentyi or Lawrence, a senior priest in the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, said he greeted Biden this morning together with Metropolitan Epifanyi, the leader of the Ukrainian church, at Mikhailivskyi Cathedral in Kyiv.
He declared his wish and certainty that the US would continue to support Ukraine in all respects. Together with Zelenskiy, he said they don’t just hope, they believe in Ukraine’s victory. They are convinced it will happen. He was very welcoming. He was joking about. He said to me ‘Father you can smile’, probably because I was looking serious. He looked around the church and said a few words about the fact that he is close to the church, a believer and has a religious education.
President Biden left Kyiv at 2:00 p.m. Kyiv time. President Joe Biden paid tribute to President Zelensky’s “courage and leadership” in a message written on the guestbook at Mariinsky Palace, the official residence of the President of Ukraine.
"I am honored to be welcomed again in Kyiv to stand in solidarity and friendship with the freedom loving people of Ukraine Mr President,” Biden wrote, according to a picture taken by Vice Prime Minister for the Restoration of Ukraine Oleksandr Kubrakov.
“Please accept my deepest respect for your courage and leadership. Slava Ukraini! (Glory to Ukraine). Joe Biden."
Reactions to the visit…
Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, said Biden’s trip to Kyiv clearly signalled to Putin that “no one is afraid of you”. In a statement, Kuleba said:
This visit is the victory of the Ukrainian people and President Zelenskiy. It has been conducted in spite of everything for the sake of Ukraine’s victory and all the free world. It is a clear signal to the swamp - no one is afraid of you!
A German government spokesperson welcomed US president Joe Biden’s trip to Ukraine on Monday. Steffen Hebestreit said during a government press conference that the visit was a “good signal,” but Reuters reports he declined to provide further comment.
Permanent Representative of Ukraine at the UN Sergiy Kyslytsya: “This Monday is truly the Presidents Day, Feb 20. This US holiday falls on 3rd Monday of February commemorating America's 45 commanders in chief. Officially, the holiday is known as Washington's Birthday. Today is the day and Kyiv is the place for two commanders in chief to meet!”
Air sirens set off in Kyiv during the President’s visit…
CNN reporting that Marchin Przydacz, a top advisor to Polish President Andrzej Duda, said:
“We welcome very much his brave decision to go to Ukraine as a clear sign of US commitment and his personal engagement in the situation, sending a clear signal that the US is with its allies, its partners, and that there is a belief that Ukraine can be victorious in this difficult situation.”
And from Moscow…
The Kremlin did not immediately make any comment on Joe Biden’s visit to Kyiv on Monday, although the trip is expected to be viewed in the Kremlin as the latest confirmation that Moscow is fighting not just against Ukraine but against the collective west led by Washington as well. “I don’t think the Russians would be surprised,” said Tatiana Stanovaya, the founder of R.Politik, a political analysis firm.
It will be for them another proof that Washington has unambiguously chosen its camp... It’s a proof of total disruption with Russia, confirmation that now the West bets on the strategic defeat of Putin.
The US told Russia that Joe Biden was going to Kyiv a few hours before his departure, the White House has said. “We did notify the Russians that President Biden will be traveling to Kyiv,” the national security adviser, Jake Sullivan said.
Dmitry Medvedev, outspoken long-term ally of Vladimir Putin, and currently deputy chairman of the Security Council of Russia, has posted to Telegram:
Biden, having received security guarantees, finally went to Kyiv. He promised a lot of weapons and swore allegiance to the neo-Nazi regime to the grave. And of course, there were mutual invocations about the victory that would come with new weapons and a courageous people.
The Russian aligned Telegram channels exploded with President Biden’s visit to President Zelenksy this morning.
CNN reporting that pro-Russian military bloggers and journalists have criticized the Kremlin for not being able to prevent US President Joe Biden from visiting the Ukrainian capital Kyiv. “Wouldn't be surprised if the grandfather (he is not good for anything but simple provocations anyway) is brought to Bakhmut as well... AND NOTHING WILL HAPPEN TO HIM,” Girkin noted, ironically.
Russian Journalist Sergey Mardan struck a stronger tone, calling Biden’s visit a “Demonstrative humiliation of Russa.” “Biden in Kiev (Russian spelling). Demonstrative humiliation of Russia,” Russian journalist Sergey Mardan wrote on his telegram channel. “Tales of miraculous hypersonics may be left for children. Just like spells about the holy war we are waging with the entire West.”
Intel Slava: Russia’s economy is now a backwater, isolated and struggling - Biden in Kiev. (Dunno about that Joe, even the country you're supposed to visit soon (Poland) admits Russia's economy is doing just fine)
Another soppy music video from Zelensky showcasing Biden’s visit to Kiev - shame they didn’t put the air raid sirens in for added effect 🤡