BBC reported that only two journalists were allowed to travel with Biden and they were sworn to secrecy, had their mobile phones taken away, and were not allowed to report the visit until after the President had arrived in Kyiv.
IANS
US President Joe Biden on Monday, February 20 made a surprise visit to Kyiv where he met his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky just four days before the ongoing war marks its first anniversary. In a social media post, Zelensky shared a picture of the two leaders and said Biden’s “visit is an extremely important sign of support for all Ukrainians.” The surprise visit came as Biden travelled to neighbouring Poland to meet President Andrzej Duda, reports the BBC. There had been speculation earlier on Monday that an important guest was arriving in the Ukrainian capital, which Ukrainian politician Lesia Vasylenko later confirmed that it was Biden. Biden, in joint remarks alongside Zelensky, announced half a billion dollars in assistance to the war-torn nation. He said the package would consist of more military equipment, including artillery ammunition, more javelins, and Howitzers, reports CNN. 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. “One year later, Kyiv stands. And Ukraine stands. Democracy stands,” Biden said. Besides Zelensky, the American President also met First Lady Olena Zekenska at the presidential palace in Kyiv. Zelensky had travelled to Washington in December 2022 to meet Biden in the Oval Office and speak to a joint session of Congress – his first trip outside Ukraine since the war began. Details of Biden’s secret trip emerge Several details have emerged of the US President’s secret trip to Kyiv, including the banning of phones during the 10-hour long train journey from Warsaw to the Ukrainian capital, a BBC report revealed. White House officials have described Biden’s unexpected visit to Kyiv on Monday as “unprecedented in modern times” as previous presidential trips to wartime Iraq and Afghanistan had the back-up of a heavy US military presence, the report said. Biden had been scheduled to fly out from the US to Warsaw on Monday evening for a two-day trip. “The advance schedule however, had two suspiciously lengthy gaps in his itinerary,” the report added. According to the BBC, reporters at the daily White House press briefings regularly inquired if Biden would make a trip to Kyiv, but the replies were in the negative. The final decision to visit the Ukrainian capital was taken during an Oval Office meeting on February 17 after months of planning. “On Sunday, the official White House schedule still showed the President taking off for Warsaw at 7 pm on Monday evening. In fact, Air Force One took off at 4.15 am on Sunday morning,” the BBC report said, adding that on board were a very small team of the President’s closest aides, a medical team, and security officers. The report went on to say that only two journalists were allowed to travel with Biden and they were sworn to secrecy, had their mobile phones taken away from them, and were not allowed to report the visit until after the President had arrived in Kyiv. According to US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, Russia was notified of the visit “only a few hours before Biden’s departure” and Washington did so “for deconfliction purposes”. Biden then spent 10 hours on a train to get to Kyiv, the BBC report noted. Accompanying the President was his small contingent of advisers and Secret Service. Before Biden, a host of other world leaders also visited the war-torn nation. They first began visiting Kyiv in March 2022, when the Prime Ministers of Poland, Slovenia, and the Czech Republic all arrived by train, reports CNN. Then British Prime Minister Boris Johnson visited April 9, followed by visits from Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, French President Emmanuel Macron, and then Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin visited Kyiv on April 25 to meet Zelensky, at that point the top US officials to visit. First Lady Jill Biden paid a surprise visit on Mother’s Day last year to a small city in the far southwestern corner of Ukraine, during which she met her Ukrainian counterpart Olena Zelenska.
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