The Biden administration is discussing sending a senior official to Ukraine to meet with the country’s president to show its support for the beleaguered nation after several European leaders made the trip in recent days.
Among those scheduled to pay a “surprise visit” to Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv are Foreign Minister Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, Politico reported late Wednesday.
President Biden, who lamented that “they won’t let me on Ukrainian soil” during a trip to Europe last month, is unlikely to be the one to leave, the report added. White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said Sunday there were “no plans” for such a presidential trip.
Vice President Kamala Harris is also not considered a promising candidate, despite visiting Poland and Romania last month.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken was able to travel to Ukraine on behalf of the White House.REUTERS/Michael A. McCoy/Pool/File Photo
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson walked the streets of Kiev together last week.Ukrainian Presidential Press Service/Handout via REUTERS
The talks came days after British Prime Minister Boris Johnson met Zelensky and the two men, who walked the deserted streets of Kyiv in a show of solidarity.
Other leaders who have recently visited Ukraine include European Commission President Ursula von de Leyen and the Presidents of Estonia, Poland, Latvia and Lithuania, who arrived by train on Wednesday.
If a decision is made to send a cabinet official, an advance notice is unlikely to be made due to security concerns, Politico reported. The outlet also said the timing of a potential trip was uncertain due to developments on the ground in Ukraine.
Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin is also an option to travel to Ukraine. Michael A McCoy/Pool via AP
The lack of a personal visit from Biden when he traveled to Belgium and Poland last month drew a reprimand from Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister for the president earlier this week.
“It would have been a huge symbolic step to show that he’s not afraid of the world’s rapist, the world’s butcher, [Russian President Vladimir] Putin, who has covered Europe with the bodies of Ukrainian women and who is committing mass atrocities live on air,” Iryna Vereshchuk told CNN on Monday. “And that would have been a symbolic and historic move, but it didn’t happen.”
At the time of the President’s visit in March, Russian troops were engaged in daily fighting with Ukrainian forces in the suburbs around Kyiv. They began withdrawing earlier this month, apparently in preparation for a full-scale attack on the Donbass region of eastern Ukraine.
President Biden, pictured here with Polish President Andrzej Duda last month, has been criticized for not traveling to Ukraine despite having recently entered other European countries. BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images
Zelenskyj met with Polish President Andrzej Duda (second from left), Latvian President Egils Levits (second from right), Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda (left) and Estonian President Alar Karis (right) during her recent visit to Ukraine . HANDOUT/UKRAINIAN PRESIDENTIAL PRESS SER/AFP via Getty Images
To counter that threat, after an hour-long meeting with Zelenskyy on Wednesday, Biden announced the approval of an additional $800 million in new military aid, including heavy weapons and helicopters.