US President Joe Biden made the final decision on his visit to Kiev on February 17, with many in the White House and Pentagon unaware of the trip. Agency reports Bloomberg with reference to sources.
Biden visited Kiev on February 20 for an unannounced visit. The American leader arrived in Ukraine by train from Poland at around 8 am, met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, toured the city center and promised Washington would continue to support Kiev.
According to Bloomberg’s report, Biden was accompanied on the plane from Washington by national security adviser Jake Sullivan, as well as two journalists who promised to keep the visit secret. It was noted that a few days before the trip, journalists were informed about the trip with an e-mail titled “Arrival instructions for the golf tournament”.
According to Sullivan, the US reported Biden’s visit to Kiev to Russia a few hours before his trip to avoid a possible conflict.
Sabrina Siddiqui, formerly The Wall Street Journal reporter saidThe White House reportedly instructed the two journalists accompanying President Joe Biden on his trip to Ukraine not to disclose information about his visit until a certain point.