A year ago, Russian President Vladimir Putin thought he would be riding triumphantly into Kyiv, perhaps aboard a tank from the vanguard of his armed forces that were supposed to steamroll Ukrainian defenders within days.
Instead, that tank is probably now lying in a rusted husk somewhere, and the foreign leader striding triumphantly in the Ukrainian capital is Joe Biden, who took a train into Kyiv to stand with wartime President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and pledge continued U.S. support for Ukraine’s self-defense.
Biden’s surprise visit (of which the Russians were told in advance to avoid any bombardment) bolsters the Western commitment to Ukraine and to keep military assistance flowing. His decision to travel to an active war zone — so active that his visit with Zelenskyy to St. Michael’s Cathedral was interrupted by an air raid siren — in order to personally join the battle-weary public sends a couple of important messages: despite some news fatigue, international support for Ukraine is not waning, and the United States is not bowed by Russia’s aggression. It was not an easy message to deliver, requiring months of careful planning, coordination and uncertainty, but it was a necessary one.
-copy-29e15046.jpeg?w=600)
