Finance
A media report revealed several details about US President Joe Biden’s secret trip to Kiev, including the prohibition of phones on the 10-hour train ride from Warsaw to Kiev.
According to the BBC, White House officials described Biden’s unexpected visit to Kiev on Monday as “unprecedented in modern times,” because previous presidential trips to wartime Iraq and Afghanistan were accompanied by a large US military presence.
Biden was supposed to fly from the United States to Warsaw on Monday evening for a two-day trip.
“The advance schedule however, had two suspiciously lengthy gaps in his itinerary,” the report added.
According to the BBC, reporters at the daily White House press briefings frequently asked if Biden would visit Kiev, but the answers were always negative.
After months of planning, the final decision to visit Ukraine’s capital was made during an Oval Office meeting on February 17.
“On Sunday, the official White House schedule still showed the President taking off for Warsaw at 7 p.m. on Monday evening. In fact, Air Force One took off at 4.15 a.m. on Sunday morning,” the BBC report said, adding that on board were a very small team of the President’s closest aides, a medical team and security officers.
According to the report, only two journalists were permitted to travel with Biden, and they were sworn to secrecy, had their mobile phones confiscated, and were not permitted to report on the visit until the President arrived in Kiev.
According to US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, Russia was notified of the visit “only a few hours before Biden’s departure” and Washington did so “for deconfliction purposes”.
According to the BBC, Biden then spent 10 hours on a train to get to Kiev.
The President was accompanied by a small group of advisers and Secret Service agents.
“One year later, Kiev stands…,” the US President declared upon his arrival in the capital city. And Ukraine is still standing. Democracy endures.”
A number of other world leaders visited the war-torn country before Biden.
According to CNN, they began visiting Kiev in March 2022, when the Prime Ministers of Poland, Slovenia, and the Czech Republic arrived by train.
On April 9, then-British Prime Minister Boris Johnson arrived, followed by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, French President Emmanuel Macron, and then-Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi.
On April 25, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin arrived in Kiev to meet with Zelensky, making them the top US officials to visit at the time.
Last Mother’s Day, First Lady Jill Biden paid a surprise visit to a small city in Ukraine’s far southwestern corner, where she met her Ukrainian counterpart Olena Zelenska.
Source:OCN
