Joe Biden arrived in Kiev at 8 o’clock this Monday morning, to everyone’s surprise, when they were officially waiting for the US president in Warsaw. In the morning, he met with Vladimir Zelensky. He is visiting Ukraine for the first time since the beginning of the conflict, a few days before the first anniversary of this war that started on February 24, 2022.
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Vladimir Zelensky greeted this visit with enthusiasm, welcoming on his Telegram page.an important sign of supportfor his country. Joe Biden expressed his support to him.steadfastto Ukraine. The White House reported that the visit was short-lived, the US president left Kyiv in the afternoon.
During this trip, the US President announced additional supplies of $500 million worth of weapons to Ukraine. They will notably contain the new American HIMARS rocket launchers and anti-missile systems. Joe Biden also announced that he will soon apply new sanctions against Russia and Russian oligarchs.
“The most important visit in the entire history of Ukraine”.
After meeting in St. Michael’s Cathedral in Kyiv, Joe Biden and Vladimir Zelensky held a press conference at the presidential residence. “This is the most important visit in the entire history of Ukrainestated Zelensky, reminding that he met his American counterpart in Washington for the first time since the beginning of the war. “We are fighting for our freedom and that of our allies“He added, believing that additional US aid.”will make the difference on the front end“. “Russia has no chance of winning the warhe also claimed.
Joe Biden, for his part, recalled to reporters the telephone conversation he had with Zelensky a year before this visit, on the eve of the war.That was a year ago, and it could have been the end of Ukraine. But one year later, Kiev still holds, Ukraine still holds, democracy still holds. And the United States stands with you. Ukraine is an important part of my heartsaid Joe Biden.
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Joint press conference of Joe Biden and Vladimir Zelensky. Dimitar Dilkoff / AFP
A surprise visit, the Kremlin warned a few hours before
This visit was not announced with a high level of security. There was no mention of a visit to Ukraine in the announced plan of Joe Biden’s trip to Europe. On Monday, he was due to arrive in Warsaw, the capital that has become a hub for Western aid to Kiev, to reassure his allies of his determination to continue their support in the face of a protracted war, and to try to remember the stakes of this war. Joe Biden was also supposed to meet in Bucharest with the leaders of nine countries (B9), which together with Poland form NATO’s eastern wing and are most concerned about the Russian threat. Hungary, Czech Republic, Romania and Slovakia.
During Joe Biden’s visit, according to journalists present on the spot, an air-raid siren would sound in the capital of Ukraine, when the leaders of the two countries left the Saint-Michel Cathedral, where they had gathered for a moment.
With sunglasses on his nose, Joe Biden, accompanied by Vladimir Zelensky, quietly left the monastery, it was 11:30. Anxious, the American president and his Ukrainian counterpart then continued their discussion while walking in the monastery’s blue-walled courtyard. several glittering golden domes.
In the distance, around the two heads of state, neither the plainclothes men of Biden’s security service, nor the tired Ukrainian soldiers, armed and wearing helmets, showed signs of commotion until the “alarm” ended.
The White House announced that the Kremlin was warned about this surprise visit to Kiev a few hours before the arrival of Joe Biden.
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Joe Biden and Vladimir Zelensky. Dimitar Dilkoff / AFP
Biden and Zelensky’s wanderings continued under the blue sky and in the cold, outside the monastery grounds to the “Wall in memory of defenders of Ukraine who fell during the Ukrainian-Russian war“. Hundreds of photos of soldiers killed since 2014, the year the conflict with Moscow-backed separatists in the east began, line the wall. To the slow beat of a drum, four Ukrainian soldiers in ceremonial uniform laid two wreaths at the foot of the memorial, one with a ribbon in the colors of Ukraine, the other with the colors of the United States.
Joe Biden and Vladimir Zelensky then gathered in front of the building for a few minutes while the driver rang for the dead. Joe Biden, in a dark coat, and Vladimir Zelensky, in a puffer jacket and khaki pants, then parted after a warm hug. Joe Biden left Kiev shortly after 2:00 p.m. after passing through the United States Embassy, the final leg of a visit shrouded in extreme secrecy.
Source: Le Figaro
I am David Wyatt, a professional writer and journalist for Buna Times. I specialize in the world section of news coverage, where I bring to light stories and issues that affect us globally. As a graduate of Journalism, I have always had the passion to spread knowledge through writing.