U.S. will remain with Ukraine for 'as long as it takes,' Biden says on surprise visit to Kyiv
New military aid promised, days before 1st anniversary of Russian invasion
U.S. President Joe Biden made an unannounced visit to Ukraine's capital on Monday to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, a gesture of solidarity that comes days before the one-year anniversary of Russia's invasion of its neighbour.
Biden delivered remarks and met with Zelenskyy at Mariinsky Palace in Kyiv to announce an additional half-billion dollars in U.S. assistance and to reassure Ukraine of American and allied support as the conflict continues.
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"One year later, Kyiv stands. And Ukraine stands. Democracy stands. The Americans stand with you, and the world stands with you," Biden said, despite what he called a "brutal and unjust war."
The Ukraine visit comes at a crucial moment in the war as Biden looks to keep allies unified in their support for Ukraine as the war is expected to intensify with both sides preparing for spring offensives. Zelenskyy is pressing allies to speed up delivery of pledged weapon systems and is calling on the West to deliver fighter jets to Ukraine — something that Biden to date has declined to do.
Biden announced the additional U.S. assistance — on top of the more than $50 billion US already provided — including shells for howitzers, anti-tank missiles, air surveillance radars and other aid but no new advanced weaponry.
Ukraine has also been pushing for battlefield systems that would allow its forces to strike Russian targets that have been moved back from front-line areas, out of the range of HIMARS missile systems that have already been delivered.
Talk of long-range weapons
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. "Our negotiations were very fruitful," Zelenskyy said.
Biden's mission with his visit to Kyiv — and then Warsaw — is to underscore that the U.S. is prepared to continue its support of Kyiv as it repels Russian forces, with the U.S. leader saying "the United States will remain with Ukraine as long as it takes."
The U.S. president pledged long-term support for Ukraine, saying that "freedom is priceless. It's worth fighting for for as long as it takes."
"And that's how long we're going to be with you, Mr. President, for as long as it takes," Biden promised. Zelenskyy, speaking in English, responded: "We'll do it."
For Zelenskyy, the symbolism of having the U.S. president stand side by side with him on Ukrainian land as the anniversary of the Feb. 24 invasion nears is no small thing as he prods the U.S. and European allies to provide more advanced weaponry and to step up the pace of delivery.
The visit also gave Biden an opportunity to get a first-hand look at some of the devastation the Russian invasion has caused. Thousands of Ukrainian troops and civilians have been killed, millions of refugees have fled the war and Ukraine has suffered tens of billions of dollars of infrastructure damage.
"The cost that Ukraine has had to bear has been extraordinarily high," Biden said. "And the sacrifices have been far too great." But, he added, "Putin's war of conquest is failing."
"He's counting on us not sticking together," Biden said. "He thought he could outlast us. I don't think he's thinking that right now. God knows what he's thinking, but I don't think he's thinking that. But he's just been plain wrong. Plain wrong."
Signing a guest book at the presidential palace, Biden praised Zelenskyy and the Ukrainian people, closing with "Slava Ukraini!" — "Glory to Ukraine!"
Air raid sirens
Biden got a short first-hand taste of the terror that Ukrainians have lived with for close to a year, as air raid sirens howled over the capital just as he and Zelenskyy were exiting the gold-domed St. Michael's Cathedral, which they visited together.
Looking solemn, they continued unperturbed as they laid two wreaths and held a moment of silence at the Wall of Remembrance honouring Ukrainian soldiers killed since 2014, the year Russia annexed Ukraine's Crimean peninsula and Russian-backed fighting erupted in eastern Ukraine.
The visit marked an act of defiance against Russian President Vladimir Putin, who had hoped his military would swiftly overrun Kyiv within days. A year later, the Ukrainian capital stands and a semblance of normalcy has returned to the city as the fighting has concentrated in the country's east, punctuated by cruise missile and drone attacks against military and civilian infrastructure.
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.
While Biden was in Ukraine, U.S. surveillance planes, including E-3 Sentry airborne radar and an electronic RC-135W Rivet Joint aircraft, were keeping watch over Kyiv from Polish airspace.
Speculation has been building for weeks that Biden would pay a visit to Ukraine around the anniversary of the Russian invasion. But the White House repeatedly had said that no presidential trip to Ukraine was planned, even after the Poland visit was announced earlier this month.
White House notified Russia of visit
White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said that the U.S. notified Moscow of Biden's visit to Kyiv shortly before his departure from Washington "for deconfliction purposes," in an effort to avoid any miscalculation that could bring the two nuclear-armed nations into direct conflict.
Biden quietly departed from Joint Base Andrews near Washington shortly after 4 a.m. on Sunday, making a stop at Ramstein Air Base in Germany before making his way into Ukraine.
Biden spent more than five hours in the Ukrainian capital, and on Ukrainian territory for about 23 hours, travelling by train from and back to Poland.
Other western leaders have made the trip to Kyiv since the start of the war.
In June, French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and then Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi travelled together by night train to Kyiv to meet with Zelenskyy. British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak visited Kyiv in November shortly after taking office.
This is Biden's first visit to a war zone as president. His recent predecessors, Donald Trump, Barack Obama and George W. Bush, made surprise visits to Afghanistan and Iraq during their presidencies to meet with U.S. troops and those countries' leaders.
CBC News in Ukraine: This week, join The National, hosted by CBC's chief correspondent Adrienne Arsenault in Kyiv. Watch at 9 p.m. ET on CBC News Network, 10 p.m. on CBC TV, and on streaming services CBC Gem and CBC News Explore.