This morning brought news that U.S. President Joe Biden, who had been expected to visit Poland in support of Ukraine at the one-year mark of Russia’s brutal invasion in February 2022, made a surprise, unannounced trip to Ukraine’s capital city of Kyiv. It was an international stand of solidarity with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy even as air raid sirens blasted in the city streets (NBC News) [1]:
President Joe Biden made a surprise and historic visit to war-torn Ukraine on Monday, a show of support and solidarity with a democratic nation battling for its survival [2] after Russian President Vladimir Putin invaded nearly a year ago.
The visit, including a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy [3], was kept under tight secrecy until Biden’s arrival.
“I am in Kyiv today to meet with President Zelenskyy and reaffirm our unwavering and unflagging commitment to Ukraine’s democracy, sovereignty, and territorial integrity,” Biden said in a statement. “When Putin launched his invasion nearly one year ago, he thought Ukraine was weak and the West was divided. He thought he could outlast us. But he was dead wrong.”
The President’s trip was a show of America’s staying power in Ukraine, messaging that the U.S. and allied nations were all for one and one for all in standing with Ukraine in the ongoing, brutal war defending their country from Russian invaders. It also signaled a push-back to those Republicans who have basically sided with Russia by not supporting aid to Ukraine.
Waking to hear Biden speaking from Kyiv was reminiscent of then-President George W. Bush’s surprise visit to Iraq [4] to visit U.S. troops on Thanksgiving Day in 2003. The chief difference was that Bush was on a U.S. base at the time while Biden was in an active war zone.
Again from NBC News:
The U.S. has also begun to sound warnings [5] that the Chinese are providing military assistance to the Russian effort and cautioned the country against providing lethal aid.
China has provided some broader help to Russia, including parroting Russian disinformation and promoting Russia’s false pretexts for the war. But U.S. officials say the Chinese are now providing more tangible assistance for Russian troops in Ukraine. The Chinese have in the past denied providing military assistance.
This is an unfolding story on this Presidents Day, four days before the morning a year ago when we all woke to hear of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Support poured onto social media, and churches expressed support and wrote messages of hope for the Ukranian people whose lives had been upended. Ukrainian flags showing unity were everywhere on social media as Americans wrapped their arms around their Ukrainian allies.
One year later, the MAGA wing of the GOP has an ever-widening anti-Ukraine/pro-Russian streak running through those same social media sites, reminiscent of isolationists from World War II who balked at entering that war to support our allies and prevent the war from coming to the shores of America.
UPDATE: I don’t usually include anonymous commenters’ remarks in posts but this one said much of what I should have said in standing up for our American president. So here it is:
THE one and only serving President of the USofA walked the streets of Kyiv, Ukraine, today as air raid sirens wailed.
President Biden’s secret visit to wartime Kyiv is an example of America in its finest tradition.
The New York Times reports that after a “trans-Atlantic flight to Poland, Mr. Biden crossed the border by train, traveling for nearly 10 hours to Kyiv as other American officials have in recent months.”
This trip took guts.
At home, it may often feel like our republic is irretrievably fractured. Abroad, mistakes and wrong turns have tarnished our reputation for competence and steadfastness. But America is still, for all its faults, seen in dark and terrible places as the last best hope. Beyond our shores, people still react to our presidents with hope.
And while THE one and only serving President showed what this nation is about, an old, blubbering fat man living in a Florida golf course motel raved some unintelligible nonsense while a Republican member of the House from Georgia raved about how the US should break up into “red states and blue states”.
Background:
-NBC News: Biden makes surprise visit to Ukraine nearly one year after Russia’s invasion [1]
-Washington Post: President Biden makes a surprise visit to Kyiv in dramatic show of U.S. support for Ukraine days before anniversary of invasion [6]
-Axios: Biden on surprise visit to Ukraine: ‘One year later, Kyiv stands.’ [7]
Photo by Lynn R. Mitchell – a flag showing unity with Ukraine that is displayed in my yard