Here’s how Joe Biden’s surprise visit to Kyiv was planned

WARSAW – When the president Biden emerged from a golden-domed church on his unexpected and high-risk trip to Kyiv, a city regularly bombarded by Russian forces, An air raid siren went off suddenly, indicating that a Russian military plane armed with missiles had taken off from its home territory.

The plane ultimately did not pose a threat to Biden’s location; US officials had tried to reduce risk by taking the extraordinary step of giving Moscow advance notice of Biden’s planned visit. But The strident alarm was a reminder of the danger of a US president visiting a war-torn capital in a region where military and mercenary groups are not known to play by the rules.

“There were still risks, and there always are risks, in an effort like this,” he said. JakeSullivan, Biden’s national security adviser, speaking on a cellphone while escorting the president out of Ukraine on Monday. Among the most striking features of the whirlwind visit was Biden’s use of a train that had been reserved for him to enter and leave Ukrainea necessity given the dangers associated with crossing Ukrainian airspace.

Biden told aides months ago he wanted to go to Ukraine, but made the final decision on Friday after a last-minute meeting in the Oval Office and a phone call with his homeland security firm, according to Jon Finer, deputy U.S. homeland security adviser.

This decision triggered a stealth plan involving strict control of information, with only two journalists summoned this afternoon and briefed on the trip so they can prepare to take part. They were told to watch for an email with the subject “Golf Tournament Arrival Instructions” which would provide further instructions.

Saturday night seemed routine for the president, perhaps by design. He was due to travel to Poland to commemorate the first anniversary of the Ukrainian war, but that trip was not due to begin until Monday. Biden and First Lady Jill Biden attended Saturday night mass at Georgetown University, visited an exhibit at the National Museum of American History and dined on rigatoni at Red Hen, a trendy Washington restaurant known for its pasta . .

A few hours later, in the darkness before dawn on Sunday, Biden and his team boarded a small government plane and took off for the war zone. Only three White House officials accompanied the president: Sullivan; Jen O’Malley Dillon, Deputy Chief of Staff; and Annie Tomasini, director of Oval Office operations and one of Biden’s closest personal assistants.

A small medical staff also arrived, as did security guards and the official White House photographer, a basic operation compared to the president’s usual entourage.

Instead of taking the big planes that presidents usually use for official travel, Biden boarded an Air Force C-32, which is typically used for flying at smaller airports. Before takeoff, the plane was in the dark, the blinds down, far from the runway where it is usually parked for presidential trips.

When the plane took off at 4:15 a.m. local time, it began a nearly 22-hour journey involving planes, caravans and trains that would take Biden nearly 8,000 kilometers to Kyiv for his meeting. with President Volodimir Zelensky.

The trip exposed the Commander-in-Chief to security risks in a war zone where there are no US troops stationed. It represented a gamble that a dramatic move could help galvanize US support for the war, boost the global coalition opposing Russia, and boost the morale of Ukrainians themselves.

Despite the dangers, the president and his entourage had decided that the powerful image of Biden embracing Zelensky in the Ukrainian homeland was worth. “President Biden felt it was important to make this trip because of the critical moment we find ourselves in as we approach the one-year anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine,” Sullivan said. .

As the possibility of a visit grew, US and Ukrainian officials have stayed in frequent contact to weigh the risks and devise strategies to mitigate them. “Obviously, this was all worked out very closely between the White House and the highest levels of the Ukrainian government, which became quite adept at receiving high-level visitors, but not one like this,” he said. said Finer.

After a refueling stop at Ramstein Air Base in Germanywhere the plane’s blinds were kept down during the hour and 15-minute shutdown, Biden eventually landed at Rzeszów-Jasionka Airport in Poland. His motorcade drove about an hour to the Ukrainian border, sirens turned off to avoid attracting attention.

Arriving at Poland’s Przemysl Glowny station, Biden boarded a train that was under tight security and had few onlookers. The eight-car train traveled through the Polish and Ukrainian countryside for more than 10 hours, mostly in darknesswith little outside visible beyond streetlights and shadows, with some brief stops to pick up additional security personnel.

It wasn’t the way a president usually travels, but Ukraine’s airspace has been closed since the start of the war, making trains a key source of weapons, food, equipment and supplies for nearly ten years. ‘a year. Tracks and vehicles were attacked by Russian forces, but Ukrainian teams quickly repaired them. A love of trains is part of Biden’s public image: He rode Amtrak during his 36 years in the US Senate, but this train ride was unlike any other.

On a typical trip, stops often feature Ukrainian husbands and fathers saying goodbye to their families as they go into battle. Closer to the border, Ukrainian soldiers examine passports and overturn beds, looking for deserters and stowaways. But with foreign leaders visiting during the war to show their support, Ukrainian officials became adept at converting trains for VIP use.

US officials said the lack of US troops in Ukraine made this operation particularly difficult. “Unlike previous visits by presidents to war zones like Iraq and Afghanistan, the United States obviously does not have a military presence on the ground in Ukraine, which made a visit by a president to exercise even more difficult,” he said. Communications director of the house. “But it was a risk Joe Biden wanted to take.”

Biden arrived at kyiv-Pasazhyrsky train station in the Ukrainian capital around 8 a.m. local time., as the city swarmed with rumors of a high-profile visitor and many streets were blocked off for security reasons. Biden, what he wore a blue and yellow striped tie to display the colors of the Ukrainian flagwas greeted upon arrival by Bridget Brink, U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine.

“It’s good to be back in Kyiv,” he said after getting off the train.

Biden was then taken to the Mariinsky Palace, the Ukrainian president’s official residence, where he met Zelensky, dressed in his black sweatshirt, dark green pants and beige boots, and his wife, Olena Zelenska.

“Thank you for coming,” Zelensky said. Biden replied, “It’s amazing to see you. More importantly, how are the kids?

He signed a guestbook, ending with “Slava Ukraini!” or “Glory to Ukraine!” And he told Zelensky: “kyiv captured a part of my heart, I must say.”

The two presidents left the palace for Kiev’s golden-domed St. Michael’s Cathedral, a symbolic place where they strolled as photographers and passers-by took photos and videos. The images were widely broadcast and the news blackout was broken. As the leaders left the church, air raid sirens sounded overhead.

Andriy Sybiha, Zelensky’s foreign affairs adviser, said the sirens sounded due to “the threat of a missile attack in connection with the departure of the Russian plane”. The sirens often go off when Russian planes with missile capabilities take off in Russia or Belarus, as these planes can hit sites in Ukraine within minutes.

After visiting the church, Biden and Zelensky lay wreath at memorial to Ukrainians killed since 2014, when Russia seized the territory of Crimea. Biden then went to the US Embassy in Kyiv to greet his staff.

He returned to the kyiv train station shortly after 1 p.m. local time, heading for Warsaw, which he plans to visit on Tuesday and Wednesday before returning to Washington.

During the visit to Kyiv, Biden noted that he had been there several times, even days before the end of his term as vice president. But The stakes have never been higher and the stakes higher.

“More and more, more important,” Biden said.

(c) 2023, The Washington Post.

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