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Biden's unannounced Kyiv visit of 20 February 2023
Summary
A look back at the surprise trip by the U.S. president to the Ukrainian capital, made without advance public notice.
What did it mean for a U.S. president to arrive in Kyiv with no public warning? On 20 February 2023, President Joe Biden made an unannounced visit to the Ukrainian capital, where he met President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
The trip came during the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Out of security concerns, his travel plans had not been made public before he arrived. Only two journalists accompanied him, and they had been sworn to secrecy three days earlier, on 17 February.
A visit built on secrecy
The secrecy defined the visit. Because nothing was announced beforehand, the first public sign of the trip was the president's presence in Kyiv itself. The small press contingent, bound to silence for three days, was part of the same precaution.
The meeting
The central event of the day was the meeting between the two presidents. Biden, the President of the United States, met Zelenskyy, the President of Ukraine, in Kyiv. Reports from the day described the visit simply as unannounced, and framed it within the relationship between Ukraine and the United States.
Looking back, 20 February 2023 stands as a day on which that relationship was expressed in person, in the Ukrainian capital, during the invasion.
