The president of the United States, Joe Biden, has made an unannounced visit to Kyiv on Monday, the first since the beginning of the Russian invasion, which is one year old this Friday. Biden has met in the Ukrainian capital with the president, Volodimir Zelenski, after the two met for the first time on December 21 during a historic visit by the Ukrainian ruler to Washington, on his first trip abroad since the war began. Biden’s meeting with Zelensky It has not been confirmed until the first image has been seen of them together.

However, already early in the morning rumors spread seeing how numerous streets had been cut and an important convoy of vehicles had been organized. The White House had initially indicated that there was no intention to visit Ukraine. In fact, Air Force One, the US president’s plane, He had planned to leave the US base this morning to arrive in Poland this Tuesday and meet the Polish authorities there. However, he has advanced that trip one day, arriving in the Polish country and later traveling by train between many security measures, as other government leaders have done before.

A few minutes after that meeting was confirmed, the White House has published a statement on this fact: “While the world prepares to commemorate the first anniversary of the brutal Russian invasion of Ukraine, I am in Kyiv today to meet President Zelensky and reaffirm our unwavering commitment and unwavering with Ukraine’s democracy, sovereignty and territorial integrity.” A statement including a direct message to Russia’s president: “When Putin launched his invasion almost a year ago, he thought Ukraine was weak and the West divided. He thought he could outlive us. But he was dead wrong.”

As stated in that note, during that meeting Biden will announce “other delivery of critical equipment, including artillery ammunition, anti-armor systems and air surveillance radars to help protect the Ukrainian people from aerial bombardments”. He has also anticipated that “additional sanctions against elites and companies that try to evade or replace Russia’s war machine” will also be announced this week. “During the last This year, the United States has built a coalition of nations from the Atlantic to the Pacific to help defend Ukraine with unprecedented military, economic, and humanitarian support, and that support will endure.”