First Lady Jill Biden made an unannounced trip to Ukraine on May 8, and held a surprise meeting with her Ukrainian counterpart, Olena Zelenska.
“I wanted to come on Mother’s Day,” Biden told Zelenska when she arrived, according to reports. “I thought it was important to show the Ukrainian people that this war has to stop and this war has been brutal and that the people of the United States stand with the people of Ukraine.”
President Joe Biden didn’t travel with the first lady to the embattled country.
Jill Biden’s office told The Associated Press that she arrived by vehicle in the western city of Uzhhorod, Ukraine, located near the Slovak border. She then returned to Slovakia after her trip to Ukraine, her office told Reuters.
Zelenska thanked Biden for her “courageous act.”
“We understand what it takes for the U.S. first lady to come here during a war when military actions are taking place every day, where the air sirens are happening every day—even today,” she said, AP reported.
The first lady is the highest-profile American to visit Ukraine since it was invaded by Russia about two months ago. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin visited Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital, in April, while House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) visited Kyiv about a week ago and met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Joe Biden has been leading Western efforts to impose economic sanctions on Russia and pressure Russian President Vladimir Putin to end the conflict. The U.S. president hasn’t been to Ukraine since the invasion began.
Earlier on May 8, the U.S. first lady visited a refugee center for Ukrainians in Kosice, a city located in eastern Slovakia. She also met with Ukrainian mothers who were residing there.
Jill Biden’s visit wasn’t announced ahead of time, and it wasn’t featured on her public schedule.
During a Fox News interview on May 8, Zelenskyy said the United States is the primary “accelerator of the sanction policies and I think they do more than any other country.”
“This is the way it should be because they are the most powerful country right now. I see the same support with respect to sanctions from the United Kingdom,“ he said, claiming that European Union countries ”don’t have it with respect to certain sanctions.”
The United States has imposed sanctions on major Russian banks, including Sberbank, the country’s largest lender, as well as top Russian government officials, including Putin.
