(MENAFN- Trend News Agency)
U.S. first lady Jill Biden made an unannounced visit to western
Ukraine on Sunday, holding a surprise Mother's Day meeting with the
nation's first lady, Olena Zelenskyy, Trend reports citing AP .
Biden traveled under the cloak of secrecy.
“I wanted to come on Mother's Day,” Biden told Zelenskyy.“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.”
The first lady traveled by vehicle to the town of Uzhhorod,
about a 10-minute drive from a Slovakian village that borders
Ukraine.
The two came together in a small classroom, sitting across a
table from one another and talking before reporters before they met
in private. Zelenskyy and her children have been at an undisclosed
location for their safety.
Zelenskyy thanked Biden for her“courageous act” and said,“We
understand what it takes for the U.S. first lady to come here
during a war when military actions are taking place every day,
where the air sirens are happening every day — even today.”
The school where they met has been turned into transitional
housing for Ukrainian migrants from elsewhere in the country.
The visit allowed Biden to conduct the kind of personal
diplomacy that her husband would like to be doing himself.
President Joe Biden said during his visit to Poland in March
that he was disappointed he could not visit Ukraine to see
conditions“firsthand” but that he was not allowed, likely due to
security reasons. The White House said as recently as last week
that the president“would love to visit” but there were no plans
for him to do so at this time.
The meeting came about after the two first ladies exchanged
correspondence in recent weeks, according to U.S. officials who
declined to provide further details because they were not
authorized to discuss the ladies' private communications.
As she arrived at the school, Biden, who was wearing a Mother's
Day corsage that was a gift from her husband, embraced Zelenskyy
and presented her with a bouquet.
After their private meeting, the two joined a group of children
who live at the school in making tissue-paper bears to give as
Mother's Day gifts.
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