White House warns Moscow about Biden’s visit to Ukraine

On Monday, the White House confirmed that it had given Russia advance notice of President Biden’s surprise visit to Ukraine on Monday to avoid escalating tensions between the two nuclear powers.

“We have notified the Russians that President Biden is going to Kyiv. We did this a few hours before his departure in order to resolve conflicts, ”Jake Sullivan, White House national security adviser, told reporters during a conference call.

“Due to the sensitive nature of these communications, I will not go into details of how they responded or what the exact nature of our communication was, but I can confirm that we provided this notice,” Sullivan added.

Biden met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday, as the anniversary of the Russian invasion approaches, and promised continued support from the United States, as well as $460 million in additional military aid.

“A year later, Kyiv is standing, Ukraine is standing, democracy is standing,” Biden said in his speech at the Mariinsky Palace. “Americans support you and the whole world supports you.”

Monday was the first time Biden visited Ukraine since the war began last February 24, although he noted that he visited Ukraine several times while he was Barack Obama’s vice president.

The President’s trip to war-torn Ukraine took place in the strictest secrecy and was planned for several months due to security concerns. The US has almost no military presence in the former Soviet country, and the country’s airspace remains contested.

Biden took the opportunity to chide Putin, who was looking to take Kyiv quickly when he launched his invasion last February.

“Putin thought Ukraine was weak and the West was divided,” Biden said, standing next to Zelensky. “He thought he could outlive us. I don’t think he’s thinking about it right now.”

“He just made a mistake,” the president added. “A year later, the evidence is right here in this room. We stand here together.”

Putin was expected to react to Biden’s “provocative” visit when he addresses the Federal Assembly of Russia comments on Tuesday, which will include an update on what the Kremlin calls a “special military operation,” the TASS news agency reported.

Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev told reporters that Biden received security guarantees for his trip to Ukraine, but did not say who gave those guarantees.

“Biden, having previously received security guarantees, finally went to Kyiv. He promised a lot of weapons and swore allegiance to the neo-Nazi regime to the grave.” This was stated by Medvedev, reports TASS. “And, of course, there were mutual spells of victory that would come with new weapons and courageous people.”

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