Biden declares ‘Kyiv stands’ in surprise visit to Ukraine

KYIV, Ukraine  — President Joe Biden swept unannounced into Ukraine on Monday to meet with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in a display of Western solidarity with a country still fighting what he called “a brutal and unjust war” days before the first anniversary of Russia’s invasion.

“One year later, Kyiv stands,” Biden declared after meeting Zelenskyy at Mariinsky Palace. “And Ukraine stands. Democracy stands. The Americans stand with you, and the world stands with you.”

Biden spent more than five hours in the Ukrainian capital, consulting with Zelenskyy on next steps, honoring the country’s fallen soldiers and seeing U.S. embassy staff in the besieged country.

Evan Vucci, Associated Press

President Joe Biden walks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Monday at St. Michael's Golden-Domed Cathedral on a surprise visit, Monday.

Biden is trying to keep allies unified in their support for Ukraine as the war is expected to intensify with spring offensives. Zelenskyy is pressing allies to speed up delivery of promised weapon systems and calling on the West to provide fighter jets — something that Biden so far declined to do.

The U.S. president got a taste of the terror that Ukrainians have lived with for close to a year when air raids sirens howled just as he and Zelenskyy wrapped up a visit to the gold-domed St. Michael’s Cathedral.

They continued on as they laid two wreaths and held a moment of silence at the Wall of Remembrance honoring Ukrainian soldiers killed since 2014, the year Russia annexed Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula and Russian-backed fighting erupted in eastern Ukraine.

The White House would not go into specifics, but national security adviser Jake Sullivan said it notified Moscow of Biden’s visit to Kyiv shortly before his departure from Washington “for deconfliction purposes” to avoid any miscalculation that could bring the two nuclear-armed nations into direct conflict.

In Kyiv, Biden announced an additional half-billion dollars in U.S. assistance — on top of the more than $50 billion already provided — for shells for howitzers, anti-tank missiles, air surveillance radars and other aid.

Ukraine also is pushing for battlefield systems that would allow its forces to strike targets that Russia moved back from frontline areas, out of the range of HIMARS missiles that already were delivered. Zelenskyy 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,” but he did not detail any new commitments.

Evan Vucci, Associated Press

US President Joe Biden, left, walks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Monday at St. Michaels Golden-Domed Cathedral in Kyiv, Ukraine.

Sullivan would not detail any potential new capabilities for Ukraine, but said there was a “good discussion” of the subject.

Biden’s mission with his visit to Kyiv, which comes before a scheduled trip to Warsaw, Poland, is to underscore that the United States is prepared to stick with Ukraine “as long as it takes” to repel Russian forces. Public opinion polling suggests that U.S. and allied support for providing weaponry and direct economic assistance is beginning to soften.

For Zelenskyy, the symbolism of having the U.S. president stand side by side with him on Ukrainian land as the anniversary nears is no small thing as he prods allies to provide more advanced weaponry and step up delivery.”I thought it was critical that there not be any doubt, none whatsoever, about U.S. support for Ukraine in the war,” Biden said.

Biden’s trip was a brazen rebuke to Russian President Vladimir Putin, who at the invasion’s outset hoped his military would swiftly overrun Kyiv within days.

A year later, the Ukrainian capital remains firmly in Ukrainian control. Though a semblance of normalcy has returned to the city, regular air raid sirens and frequent missile and drone attacks against military and civilian infrastructure across the country are a near-constant reminder that the war is still raging.

The bloodiest fighting is, for the moment, concentrated in the country’s east, particularly around the city of Bakhmut, where Russian offensives are underway.

At least six civilians have been killed and 17 more have been wounded in Ukraine over the past 24 hours, Ukraine’s presidential office reported Monday. A total of 15 cities and villages have been shelled over the past 24 hours, according to the region’s Ukrainian Gov. Pavlo Kyrylenko. In the northeastern Kharkiv region, cities near the border with Russia came under fire. A missile strike hit Kupiansk, damaging a hospital, a plant and residential buildings.

Ukrainian Presidential Press Office via AP

President Joe Biden, right, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy talk Monday in Kyiv, Ukraine.

It was rare for a U.S. president to travel to a conflict zone where the U.S. or its allies did not have control over the airspace.

The U.S. military does not have a presence in Ukraine other than a small detachment of Marines guarding the embassy in Kyiv, making Biden’s visit more complicated than other recent visits by prior U.S. leaders to war zones.

Until Monday, Biden’s failure to visit made him something of a standout among Ukraine’s partners in the West, some of whom have made frequent visits to the Ukrainian capital. White House officials previously cited security concerns with keeping Biden from making the trip, and Sullivan said Monday that the visit was only undertaken once officials believed they had managed the risk to acceptable levels.