The US president made a surprise visit to kyiv on Monday, four days before the first anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Joe Biden was with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, coming out of a church where they had stayed for a few minutes, when the sirens sounded, without causing panic.
The American president was expected in Poland at the start of the week and is due to meet his counterpart Andrzej Duda and allies from Eastern Europe on Tuesday during this trip.
► To read also: The highly symbolic visit of US President Biden to Poland
Joe Biden announced from kyiv additional arms deliveries to Ukraine. ” I will announce the delivery of other essential equipment, including artillery ammunition, anti-armor systems and air surveillance radars “, he said, according to a statement from the White House.
” Russian attempts to win will have no chance »
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky welcomed the surprise visit. ” Joseph Biden, welcome to Kyiv! Your visit is an extremely important sign of support for all Ukrainians “, said Mr. Zelensky on Twitter.
Volodymyr Zelensky also assured that Russia had ” no chance of winning the war she started. The new arms deliveries promised by Mr. Biden on this occasion constitute a ” unequivocal signal that Russian attempts to win will stand no chance said the Ukrainian president.
A surprise effect that further strengthens the scope of the gesture
For a few hours this morning, a little agitation was noticeable with the Ukrainian Foreign Minister, Dmytro Kuleba, who canceled at the last minute his trip to Brussels where he was to meet his European counterparts, and these images on the social networks of streets blocked, military convoys in the Ukrainian capital
The American president arrived by train from the Polish border, he had left Washington in the greatest secrecy. Yesterday, when he had already crossed the Atlantic, the White House published a program indicating that he would leave the United States on Monday evening.
A secret trip for security reasons of course, but the effect of surprise further reinforces the significance of the gesture, a few days from the one year of the Russian invasion. Joe Biden was expected to speak tomorrow Tuesday in Warsaw alongside Andrzej Duda from Warsaw Castle, while Vladimir Putin will deliver his state of the nation address in Russia.
This trip is also a way to reassure Kiev and the European allies, while the Republican elected representatives in the House of Representatives show signs of reluctance, and demand the end of a “blank check” on military support for Ukraine. .
A year of war
This week will mark the first anniversary of the war in Ukraine, a deadly, devastating conflict whose consequences are still difficult to measure. It all started on February 24 at dawn when Vladimir Putin triggered what he was to call “the special military operation”.
Airstrikes all over Ukraine, and ground forces penetrating from the North, East and South: few in Ukraine and on the Western side had foreseen such a massive offensive. Vladimir Putin justifies the invasion by the need to defend the Russian-speaking populations of Ukraine and sets two objectives: to demilitarize and “denazify” the country.
In the south, Russian forces seized the port of Berdyansk and the city of Kherson, but in the north they failed to control the Ukrainian capital, which opposed them with fierce resistance. Galvanized by President Zelensky and by the support of Western countries, the Ukrainian army manages to block the Russian army, then to regain ground. A first counter-offensive made it possible to liberate vast territories in the Kharkiv region, then to reconquer the city of Kherson in the south.
From October, Russia systematically bombed Ukraine’s civilian infrastructure, and concentrated its military efforts on the Donbass. Despite the support of tens of thousands of reservists and mercenaries from the Wagner group, the city of Bakhmout continues to resist the Russian offensive. For how long ?
As this first anniversary approaches, the Ukrainians expect a new, massive effort from the Russian army. And the hope of a negotiated solution seems more distant than ever since the Russian invasion began.