New Delhi: US First Lady Jill Biden paid a surprise visit to Ukraine on Sunday to demonstrate solidarity for the war-torn country in its struggle against Russia, news agency Reuters reported.
Olena Zelenska, her Ukrainian equivalent, was also present.
"I thought it was important to show the Ukrainian people that this war has to stop and this war has been brutal and that the people of the United States stand with the people of Ukraine,” she said.
The US First Lady had spent Mother's Day in Slovakia earlier in the day, talking with Ukrainian mothers who had been displaced by the conflict. She promised them that the "hearts of the American people" are with them.
“I wanted to come on Mother’s Day,” the Biden informed Zelenska. “I thought it was important to show the Ukrainian people that this war has to stop and this war has been brutal and that the people of the United States stand with the people of Ukraine.”
Biden visited Ukraine for nearly two hours, driving by car to the town of Uzhhorod, which is about a 10-minute drive from a Slovakian settlement she visited near the border.
Before meeting in private, the two first ladies met in a tiny classroom, sitting across a table from one another and welcoming each other in front of media. Zelenska and her children have been kept secure in an undisclosed location.
Biden was able to perform the type of personal diplomacy that her husband would prefer to be conducting personally during his visit.
President Joe Biden expressed disappointment during a visit to Poland in March that he was unable to visit Ukraine to view circumstances "firsthand," but that he was denied permission, most likely for security concerns.
The White House recently stated that while the president "would love to visit," there are currently no plans for him to do so.
(With Agencies Inputs)