The president told reporters that a stop in Ukraine was “not likely” on the upcoming trip, which will include stops in Germany and Spain. Biden said he “doesn’t want to cause any more trouble for Ukrainians” by adding a stop.
On Saturday, Biden will travel to Schloss Elmau in southern Germany to attend the G7 leaders’ summit, a meeting expected to address Russia’s ongoing war on Ukraine. On June 28, the president will travel to Madrid, Spain, for the 2022 NATO summit — another alliance that has helped Ukraine amid Russia’s advances.
The decision to avoid travel to Ukraine came less than a week after the Biden administration announced it would provide Ukraine with an additional $1 billion in military aid to fight Russia. The package includes supplies of additional howitzers, ammunition and coastal defense systems.
Biden, speaking to members of the press while walking along the beach at Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, on Monday said he thought it was “very likely” that Ukraine would become a member of the European Union.
EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Friday that the Commission had recommended giving Ukraine “candidate status” in the EU.
Shortly after Friday’s recommendation, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the move required Moscow’s “closer attention.” On the same day, Russian President Vladimir Putin said in a speech that the EU had “completely lost its political sovereignty” and “its elites are dancing to someone else’s tune and harming their own people”.
Ukrainian leaders – including the nation’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy – have been urging Biden to visit their country since the spring.
“I think he will. I mean, of course it’s his decision,” Zelenskyy told CNN’s “State of the Union” in April. “And in terms of security, that depends. I’m serious.
So far, Biden has not entered Ukraine, but he has visited neighboring Poland.
During his trip to Poland in March to observe the humanitarian crisis resulting from the war, Biden suggested that although he wanted to cross the border into Ukraine, “they won’t let me.”
“I’m here in Poland to see the humanitarian crisis firsthand, and quite frankly, part of my disappointment is that I can’t see it firsthand like I can in other places,” Biden said at the time. “They understandably won’t let me cross the border and see what’s going on in Ukraine.”
Other senior members of the Biden administration, including Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and First Lady Jill Biden, have visited Ukraine since the war began.