White House gave Russia a heads up about Biden’s visit
The White House confirmed Monday that it had given Russia advance notice about President Biden’s surprise visit to Ukraine on Monday to avoid heightening tensions between the two nuclear powers.
“We did notify the Russians that President Biden would be traveling to Kyiv. We did so some hours before his departure for deconfliction purposes,” White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters on a conference call.
“Because of the sensitive nature of those communications, I won’t get into how they responded or what the precise nature of our message was, but I can confirm that we provided that notification,” Sullivan added.
Biden met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as the anniversary of Russia’s invasion approaches on Friday and pledged the United States’ continuing support as well as an additional $460 million in military aid.
“One year later, Kyiv stands, Ukraine stands, democracy stands,” Biden said in remarks at the Mariinsky Palace. “The Americans stand with you and the world stands with you.”
Monday was the first time Biden has traveled to Ukraine since the start of the war last Feb. 24, although he noted that he had visited several times when he was Barack Obama’s vice president.
The president’s trip to war-torn Ukraine was carried out under intense secrecy and had been planned for months due to security concerns. The US has almost no military presence in the former Soviet nation and the country’s airspace remains contested.
Biden took the opportunity to rebuke Putin, who expected to quickly overrun Kyiv when he launched his invasion last February.
“Putin thought Ukraine was weak and the West was divided,” Biden said as he stood alongside Zelensky. “He thought he could outlast us. I don’t think he’s thinking that right now.”
“He’s just been plain wrong,” the president added. “One year later, the evidence is right here in this room. We stand here together.”
Putin was expected to respond to Biden’s “provocative” visit when he addresses Russia’s Federal Assembly on Tuesday, remarks that will include an update on what the Kremlin calls the “special military operation,” the TASS news agency reported.
Dmitry Medvedev, deputy chairman of the Security Council of Russia, told reporters that Biden received security guarantees for his trip to Ukraine, but didn’t say who gave those assurances.
“Biden, having previously received security guarantees, finally went to Kyiv. He promised many weapons and swore allegiance to the neo-Nazi regime to the grave,” Medvedev said, according to TASS. “And, of course, there were mutual incantations of victory, which will come with new weapons and courageous people.”
With Post wires
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