Biden Makes A Symbolic Visit To Kyiv

King Charles III visits Ukrainian soldiers training in the UK

Day 362 (20 February)

• President Biden visited Kyiv, and met with Zelenskyy in person to discuss US aid for Ukraine. The visit was obviously kept secret for security reasons, and Biden arrived just before 10 a.m., when his visit was officially released to the press. The visit is a symbolic one, and a strong message to tell Russia that there is no war fatigue, and that the US supports Ukraine and will continue to do so until Russia leaves Ukraine. He left Ukraine about midday to make his way to Poland.

  

  Putin thought Ukraine was weak, and the West was divided, he's counting on us, not sticking together. He was counting on the inability to keep NATO united. He was counting on us not to be able to bring in others to the side of Ukraine. He thought he could outlast us. I don't think he's thinking that right now, he was dead wrong. (Biden)

  

  

• Security was tight, and air raid sirens sounded as Biden and Zelenskyy walked around Kyiv. Biden was supposed to have left the US on Monday night, but the trip to Kyiv was finalised on Friday, and Biden and his team had left the US quietly on Sunday morning (04.15 EST), with a small team and 2 journalists who had their phones taken off them, and who were barred from reporting on the story until Biden had arrived in Kyiv. After landing in Poland, Biden travelled to Kyiv by train, which is a 10 hour journey.

  

• Russia had been informed of Biden’s visit a couple of hours after he had departed for ‘deconfliction purposes’, which means Russia could not accuse the US of planning secret meetings

  

• The visit has boosted morale, and Ukrainians know that they are not alone and that the US is going to support them.

  

• Biden was scheduled to make a 3 day visit to Poland, and Lukashenko of Belarus invited Biden to visit Minsk, with Putin to discuss matters. However, the US cannot make decisions for Ukraine, so it would have been pointless without Zelenskyy.

  

• During the visit, Biden announced a further military aid package of $500 million, which will include suppling HIMARS, and Javelin anti-tank systems.

  

  

• Today is the Day of Remembrance of the Heavenly Hundred, where 107 protesters were killed during the Revolution of Dignity in 2014. This is the 9th anniversary of Ukrainians fighting for democracy and liberty.

  

• The Japanese Prime Minister (Kishida) has invited Zelenskyy to the G7 online summit which will take place on the anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

  

• King Charles III visited the military bases in Wiltshire where Ukrainian soldiers are being trained on a 5 week course in tactics and how to use some of the equipment being supplied by the UK.

  

  

  

• Wang Yi, the Chinese Foreign Minister has made a visit to Moscow, allegedly to help broker a peace plan for Ukraine.

  

• This comes on the eve of a speech that Putin will give to Russia, and celebrations and a rally have been planned. It is the anniversary of Putin (21 February 2022) declaring Luhansk and Donetsk as independent of Ukraine, and as part of the Russian Federation.

• Bakhmut is being fought hard because the Russians need a win to be announced, and may claim to have captured Bakhmut even if it is not true in time for Putin’s speech tomorrow

  

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• EU Foreign Ministers met in Brussels today to discuss the new sanctions package. There seem to be a lot of talks and meetings, and while some are necessary, there are more meetings than action. A year on, sanctions have had little effect as they took too long to implement and Russia find a way to evade the sanctions in place. How many deaths have there been while waiting for a sanction package to be approved, implemented, and then wait for them to have some effect?

• Slovakia is discussing the possibility of sending jets to Ukraine, but have stated it must be discussed in parliament.

  

• In the Zaporizhzia nuclear power plant, reports state that it is being used as a holding station for troops to be deployed to Donetsk. This has been going on for at least 10 months, yet the IAEA are powerless to do anything, or won’t.

  

• The Ramstein 10 summit will be held in mid-March and is likely to be online. The chances are that the war will have escalated and these meetings are now becoming too dangerous for all to travel to.

• The IOC has been approached by 34 countries, urging them to reconsider permitting Russian and Belarusian athletes to take part in the 2024 Olympics.

  We have strong concerns on feasible it is for Russian, and Belarusian Olympic athletes to compete as neutrals under the IOC's conditions of no identification with their country – when they are directly funded and supported by the states.