President Joe Biden has been invited by Ukrainian President Vlodomyr Zelenskyy to follow in the footsteps of the leaders of Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovenia, and the United Kingdom to visit Kyiv in a show of support.
Biden, it seems, has balked at the proposal.
Zelenkskyy formally asked Biden to show courage and visit his war-torn country in solidarity with the Ukraine resistance during an interview on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
Ukraine has been fighting a bloody war against Russian forces for nearly two months after Vladimir Putin ordered the invasion of the country without provocation. Thousands of soldiers on both sides, as well as Ukrainian civilians, have been killed. Millions more innocents have been forced to flee the fighting.
“You think he will?” host Jake Tapper asked Zelenskyy.
“I think he will,” Zelenskyy replied. “But it’s his decision, of course. And about the safety situation, it depends; I mean that… But I think … he’s the leader of the United States and that’s why he should come here to see.”
Zelenskyy should be prepared for disappointment. The White House has reportedly balked at Ukraine’s invitation and indicated last week that Biden will send a proxy instead.
“President Biden doesn’t currently have any plans to travel to Kyiv,” said White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan. “But what I will tell you is he sits in the Oval Office and in the Situation Room on a daily basis, organizing and coordinating the world when it comes to the delivery of weapons.”
White House press secretary Jen Psaki also said Biden had no plans to visit the country over the weekend.
“He is ready for anything. The man likes a fast car, some aviators — he’s ready to go to Ukraine,” Jen Psaki said on the “Pod Save America” podcast. But she added, “We are not sending the president to Ukraine.”
Last week, two Republican lawmakers, Montana Sen. Steve Daines and Indiana Rep. Victoria Spartz, became the first American leaders to visit Ukraine since the start of the war.
“Nothing can substitute for actually being here, seeing it first-hand, spending time with the people and leaders here in Ukraine who have been horribly affected by this war,” Daines said about his trip to Kyiv.
Biden himself addressed the invitation during his visit to Poland last month when the president said “they” wouldn’t let him go to Ukraine.
“They will not let me, understandably I guess, cross the border and take a look at what’s going on in Ukraine,” Biden said at a March press conference near the Ukrainian-Polish border.
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The Horn editorial team