Joe Biden arrives in Kyiv with a promise of a new $500 million military aid package

US President Joe Biden arrived in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv on an unannounced visit on February 20, four days before the anniversary of the start of the Russian special operation.

“Joe Biden, welcome to Kyiv! Your visit is a very important manifestation of support for all Ukrainians,” President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky wrote on his Telegram channel, posting a joint photo. The New York Times writes that Biden arrived in the Ukrainian capital in the morning by train from the border with Poland.

The White House statement said Biden is in Kyiv to meet with Zelensky and reaffirm “the commitment to democracy, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine.” A year ago [президент России Владимир] Putin ‘thought Ukraine was weak and the West was divided’ <…>but he was “wrong,” the report claims.

It is noted that Biden in Kyiv will announce a new package of military assistance, which will include artillery ammunition, Javelin anti-tank systems and air surveillance radars. This same week, the US will announce additional sanctions against the Russian elite and companies that support the “Russian war machine.”

After Kiev, Biden will travel, as previously announced, to Poland, where he will meet with its President Andrzej Duda and deliver a speech “on how the United States will continue to rally the world to support the people of Ukraine and protect the basic values ​​of humanity.” The US delegation also includes Biden’s national security aide Jake Sullivan.

According to Reuters, the new package of American assistance to Ukraine will include HIMARS, ammunition, anti-tank systems and radars totaling $500 million. In addition, Zelensky said that he had discussed the issue of long-range weapons with Biden.

On the morning of February 20, the media published footage of Biden meeting with Zelensky in St. Michael’s Cathedral, after which they honored the memory of the fallen Ukrainians and hugged at the memorial on St. Michael’s Square. Around the same time, the sounds of a siren sounded in Kyiv.

Officially, Biden’s visit to Kyiv was kept secret until the last moment, according to the NYT, for security reasons. Politico reported that it took almost a week to prepare Biden’s visit to Kyiv. The White House announced Biden’s arrival in Poland only the night before.

The significance of Biden’s visit to Kyiv should not be overestimated – this is another demonstration of solidarity with Ukraine, says Dmitry Ofitserov-Belsky, a senior fellow at the Center for Belarus, Moldova and Ukraine. Thus, the United States is trying to motivate not the Kyiv authorities, but the ordinary population to continue hostilities and support Zelensky. In the domestic politics of the United States, the expert continues, the Ukrainian issue does not play such an important role as it seems at first glance, so Biden is unlikely to try to influence his electorate with his visit.