President Biden’s Monday-morning arrival in Kyiv, Ukraine, surprised all but a few officials and journalists who were clued in to the trip before it happened.
Journalists traveling with Biden could not provide real-time updates of his visit because of security concerns, but they relayed what led to the Presidents’ Day arrival.
Here is what we know so far about how the trip unfolded, based on reports from the journalists traveling with him and statements from White House officials.
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Friday, Feb. 17
Biden’s trip took months to plan because of the security implications of a wartime trip, White House officials told journalists in a Monday call. Biden made the final decision to travel Friday, the officials said, after a conversation in the Oval Office and over the phone with “key members of his national security cabinet.”
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Sunday, Feb. 19
Air Force One departed Joint Base Andrews at 4:15 a.m. Eastern time, according to a journalist on board who did not see Biden enter the plane but heard an announcement about 4 a.m. that the president had boarded.
National security adviser Jake Sullivan, Deputy Chief of Staff Jen O’Malley Dillon and Director of Oval Office Operations Annie Tomasini accompanied Biden.
On the call with journalists, White House officials said the traveling party was purposefully kept small, with a few of his closest aides, a medical team and security officers.
At some point several hours before Biden’s departure, the White House notified Russia of the visit to avoid conflict.
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Monday, Feb. 20
According to the journalists traveling with him, Biden arrived in Kyiv at 8 a.m. local time. He wore a blue-and-yellow-striped tie, the colors of Ukraine’s flag, and was met on arrival by U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Bridget A. Brink.
“It’s good to be back in Kyiv,” Biden declared as he was greeted by Brink.
This is the eight time Biden has visited the city, the president told a pool reporter.
Biden traveled to the Mariinsky Palace, the official residence of Ukraine’s president in Kyiv, and arrived about 8:30 a.m. He was met by the entrance by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and first lady Olena Zelenska. In the palace, Biden signed a guest book, took photos with Zelensky and greeted U.S. and Ukrainian officials. After speaking to reporters, the leaders met privately.
Before Biden’s arrival, Kyiv had been buzzing with rumors of a high-level visitor, with authorities tightening security and closing off roads without explanation.
At 11:19 a.m., Biden left the palace and traveled to St. Michael’s Golden-Domed Monastery in Kyiv, a symbolic venue where he and Zelensky took a side-by-side stroll as photographers and passersby captured the moment. This is when news that Biden was in Kyiv began to spread widely.
Biden and Zelensky briefly entered the church. Air raid sirens rang as they left. The presidential motorcade departed that location at 11:40 a.m., after Biden and Zelensky laid a wreath at a memorial for those killed in fighting with Russia since 2014.
Biden then traveled to the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv, where he arrived about noon. The motorcade departed about 45 minutes later.
Shortly before 2 p.m. local time, the journalists traveling with Biden said the president had left Kyiv. It was not immediately clear where he went or through which means of transportation. After his trip to Ukraine, he is set to visit Poland and discuss Western efforts to help Ukraine fight off Russia’s invasion.
(c) 2023, The Washington Post · Annabelle Timsit, Matt Viser
Zelensky, a jewish person, went to the church for what?
The act of yiddishkeit is fully lost when many of these dry duck jews enter the world scope. Let alone he is intermarried, his predicament and the eyes of western society are not looking at all for a jew.
He performs for the gentile and he takes his official lucky place in history. The world refuses anything only an anecdote that he is a member of the jewish experience. The flags go up. They come back down. And a living president makes his people seem happy. Is he facing his own neshama? Only with what time gives him. Not Hashem.
He is a backstabbing intermarried lowlife dog. His kids are goyim.
He had them buptized too.
Have to give credit to the Biden team, this made him look presidential. Whether or not it will be enough to lift his poll numbers, only time will tell. But good move on their part.
Yup, really good cover story for a trip that was such a surprise that even Biden wasn’t clued in on it…
– Mr. President, we have to go
– Go? Go where?
– We’re taking a nice little trip on Air-Force One. You know how much you like going on it, right?
– Oh, yes, Air Force One! Great! Can I take Binky with me?
– Pr. President, you can take whatever you want. Just make sure you have the Football with you.
– Football? Are we going to play in the Superbowl?
– Uhh, not really Sir. But you can get a good nap on the plane if we hurry up.
12 hours later
– Mr. President, wake up! We’ve arrived in Kyiv.
– Where?
– Kyiv! We’re going to see President Zelinsky
– Can I bring Binky along?
– Sure, Mr. President. You can bring whatever you want with you. Just let me give you this shot of stimulants…
CGI takes time to prepare. Maybe not as long as it took NASA’s CGI’s moon landing in 1969.
CGI takes time to prepare. Maybe not as long as it took NASA’s CGI’s moon landing in 1969.
This trip to Ukraine is a political stunt, possibly a kiss up to Zelensky. There’s a fishy relationship between Biden and Zelensky. Remember, Biden’s son had, may still have business interests in Ukraine. There’s also the possibility that Biden is compromised by these dealings, as could be the case with China also. Biden should have gone to East Palestine, Ohio where Americans are suffering. But there he would have caught flack for the federal government’s lack of help with this toxic situation. On Ukraine, it’s not an ally, not in NATO, is not a democracy by any stretch of the imagination. If Europe is concerned about Ukraine, it’s in their backyard, not ours, let them do battle. There’s been too much unacceptable money sent to this despot Zelensky. If he won’t cut a peace deal with Russia, let him bear the consequences.
they notified Russia,
Though they didn’t seem to bothered, as we can hear the siren’s going off bang in the middle
so if Im one of the other eastern european countries that belong to NATO, I would be reconsidering my membership an ensuing obligations to the organization considering how well Ukraine, a non member, is being taken care of.
Biden went there to pick up his son’s paycheck.