US President Joe Biden visited Kiev.Image: AP / Evan Vucci
analysis
US President Joe Biden arrived in Ukraine on Monday under the strictest security measures. A day of hope for Ukrainian President Zelenskyy.
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Joe Biden arrived in the capital Kiev on Monday morning in the presidential plane from Washington – just a few days before the first anniversary of the start of Russia’s war of aggression against the neighboring country. Despite the air raid alarm, he then walked through the city together with the Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The two heads of state also commemorated the fallen Ukrainians.
Biden and Zelenskyj commemorated the fallen Ukrainians.Image: IMAGO/APAimages / imago images
For Biden, this is the first visit to the Ukraine since the beginning of the war. The US President praised the will to defend People.
“A year later, Kiev is standing up. And Ukraine is standing up. Democracy is standing up.”
According to US journalists who had traveled with him, he added: “The Americans stand with you and the world stands with you.”
Biden addressed Russian President Vladimir Putin in a joint statement with Zelenskyj in the Marien-Palast. “Putin thought that Ukraine was weak and that the West had different opinions,” US reporters who had traveled with him quoted him as saying. “He was just completely wrong. You can see the proof in this room a year later. We stand together.”
Biden’s message: We are here for you
At his meeting with Zelenskyy, Biden announced another half-billion US dollar aid package for Kiev, according to a small pool of reporters who were traveling with him. Details should follow. The US President also announced that further sanctions would be imposed later in the week Russia will give. Here, too, he initially gave no details. At the same time, the EU foreign ministers in Brussels discussed new punitive measures.
Zelenskyy described Biden’s visit as an “extremely important sign of support for all Ukrainians”. He also said: “These Entertainment brings us closer to victory.”
Biden’s visit is symbolic.Image: IMAGO/APAimages / imago images
Numerous heads of state and government as well as ministers from other countries had already visited Ukraine in the past months since the beginning of the war – some several times. The USA had also sent members of the government to Ukraine, such as Biden’s wife Jill. Biden, on the other hand, has never been to Ukraine as president.
The fact that he is now planning his visit just before the first anniversary is highly symbolic – as a sign of support for the most important and powerful ally. Biden and his government have pledged to support Ukraine in the long term – as long as it is necessary. The US government headquarters also issued this as the core message for Biden’s visit to Poland. Now he delivered them personally in Kiev.
In recent months, the Americans have had various packages with them in rapid succession weapons and ammunition in the billions. According to the Pentagon, they have provided or pledged nearly $30 billion in military assistance since the war began. This also includes various heavy weapon systems.
A long-distance duel between Biden and Putin
Biden plans talks in the Polish capital Warsaw on Tuesday and Wednesday. According to the White House, a meeting with Poland’s President Andrzej Duda and a speech in the early evening in front of the Warsaw Royal Castle are planned. Biden also intends to meet with representatives of other Eastern European NATO countries on Wednesday.
For his speech in Warsaw, Biden chose both the place and the time: he will speak in the Royal Castle, a symbol of the city that was largely destroyed by Nazi Germany in World War II and later rebuilt. At about the same time as Biden’s speech, Russian President Vladimir Putin will address the Russian nation with a speech.
The timing of Putin’s and Biden’s speeches overlap.Image: dpa / Denis Balibouse
The two political adversaries are engaged in a kind of long-distance duel.
The US President last visited Poland at the end of March 2022, around a month after the outbreak of war in Ukraine. Even then, Biden had given a well-received speech in front of the Royal Castle in Warsaw. In it he assured Ukraine’s support and sharply attacked Putin. At the time, a statement by Biden about Putin caused a stir, which the White House later put into perspective:
“For God’s sake, this man can’t stay in power.”
The US government headquarters later made it clear that Biden had not called for Putin’s overthrow.
(yam/sda/dpa)
The EU promised further help to the Ukrainian President Zelenskyj after his visit to Brussels. On Friday, Russia again attacked Ukraine massively with drones and rockets, primarily targeting the energy infrastructure. Heavy and extremely bloody fighting is continuing, particularly in eastern Ukraine. Ukraine is demanding that the West supply fighter jets to defend itself against Russian airstrikes.
