Support as long as needed: Biden in Kyiv
Sandeep Dikshit
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, February 20
The war for Ukraine shifted into a higher gear on the eve of its first anniversary with US President Joe Biden making an unannounced appearance in Kyiv even as Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi is heading for Moscow for consultations after warning Washington to stay away from the Sino-Russian partnership.
Biden, in aviator sunglasses, walked along with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in his usual green battle fatigues when he accompanies a western dignitary, through central Kyiv to a gold-domed cathedral that has been the bone of contention between the Ukrainian and Russian orthodox churches. Suggesting that Biden’s “sudden”’ trip was known at least to Kyiv, several gutted Russian tanks were brought to the cathedral for the occasion to denote a country at war. The visit was meant not only to upstage the Kremlin on the conflict’s first anniversary but to give an unmistakable signal that it was now a war between the West and Russia.
Ready for difficult days, years ahead
Sacrifices have been far too great… We know that there will be difficult days and weeks and years ahead. —Joe Biden, US president
Historic visit, says Zelenskyy
The first in 15 years, it is the most important visit in the entire history of Ukraine-US ties. —Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Ukrainian president
After the American cut-and-run in Afghanistan, Biden also assured that the US was with Ukraine “as long as it takes”. The visit was meant to “reaffirm our unwavering and unflagging commitment to Ukraine’s democracy, sovereignty and territorial integrity,” said Biden.
Biden assured Zelenskyy another $500 million worth of artillery ammunition, anti-armour systems and air defence radars, besides promising even tighter sanctions on Russia against its elite and companies trying to evade sanctions to “back the Russian war machine”.
“This visit of the US President to Ukraine, the first in 15 years, is the most important visit in the entire history of Ukraine-US relations,” said Zelenskyy.
“When Putin launched his invasion nearly one year ago, he thought Ukraine was weak and the West was divided. He thought he could outlast us. But he was dead wrong. The cost that Ukraine has had to pay is extraordinarily high. Sacrifices have been far too great … We know that there will be difficult days and weeks and years ahead,” said Biden.
On a parallel track, Beijing sought to demonstrate that it was uncowed by Washington’s warning to stay away from the conflict as well as a joint US-Australia-Japan statement on unitedly defending Taiwan by scheduling to despatch Wang Yi to Moscow. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said the US was “in no position to make demands of China”, and China’s “comprehensive collaborative partnership with Russia” was a matter for two independent states.
Putin’s meeting with Wang ‘not ruled out’
Moscow: Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Monday that “we don’t rule out” Russian President Vladimir Putin’s meeting with Wang Yi, the Chinese Communist Party’s most senior foreign policy official, who’s visiting the Russian capital.
