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The White House is “not currently planning a trip” for President Biden to visit Ukraine, instead focusing on “accelerating weapons” and sending military aid and security systems to the country amid more than two months of Russia’s multi-front war.
During Monday’s White House press briefing, Press Secretary Jen Psaki was asked if the president had asked to travel to Ukraine.
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“I will not have private conversations,” Psaki said. “What I will tell you is that we are not currently planning a trip by the President of the United States to Ukraine.”
President Joe Biden delivers remarks on the debt ceiling during an event in the State Dining Room of the White House Monday, October 4 in Washington. A California man was arrested in Iowa last week while traveling to Washington DC after he shared a “hit list” with Biden, former Presidents and Dr. Anthony Fauci had been found. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
“What matters most to the Ukrainian leadership is that we speed up weapons and give them the support and security systems they need,” Psaki added.
The comments from the White House come after British Prime Minister Boris Johnson traveled to Kyiv. Johnson was seen in videos shared by Ukraine’s Defense Ministry walking the streets of the capital alongside Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and speaking to locals.
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The President traveled to Warsaw, Poland last month following an emergency NATO summit.
During his visit, Biden said “they will not let me cross the border into Ukraine.”
“Part of my disappointment is that I can’t see it firsthand like I’ve done in other places,” Biden said last month, referring to the humanitarian crisis and devastation in Ukraine.
“They understandably won’t let me cross the border and see what’s going on in Ukraine,” Biden said.
It’s unclear who Biden was referring to, but the president is unlikely to travel to Ukraine for security reasons.
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Last month Prime Ministers Mateusz Moravetsky of Poland, Petr Fiala of the Czech Republic and Janez Jansa of Slovenia traveled to Kyiv to meet with Zelenskyy and Prime Minister Denys Schmyhal.
Meanwhile, the White House said Monday it intends to return its diplomatic presence to Kyiv “over time.”
“We need to gauge when exactly is the right time to do that,” Psaki said, noting that she has no “prediction” as to when that would be.
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“Obviously it is in our interest to have a diplomatic presence on the ground, but that is a State Department assessment made through the prism of security considerations,” she said.
However, Psaki asserted that the “most important thing” the United States “has done and continues to do” is “to lead the entire global coalition, to rise up against Russia and make sure we provide military security assistance, accelerate it by… not just our own resources, but the resources of countries around the world and the world’s leadership in a package of economic sanctions.”
Security aid continues to flow unabated to Ukraine, and senior defense officials told Fox News last week that “everything we do in relation to Ukraine is expedited — everything.”
The Biden administration announced $300 million in security and deadly aid earlier this month, separate from the $800 million previously approved. The additional aid will be used to buy weapons from defense contractors, an official said.
Fox News’ Jacqui Heinrich contributed to this report.