Tag: Live Updates: Biden in Ukraine on surprise visit to Kyiv

While top congressional leaders have yet to weigh in on the visit, some House Republicans are criticizing President Joe Biden’s trip to Ukraine and his renewed support for Ukraine’s defense against Russia’s invasion, undercutting Biden’s message of bipartisan support for Ukraine. 

In a surprise visit to Ukraine ahead of the one-year anniversary of the war between Ukraine and Russia, Biden met with Ukraine’s President Zelensky and emphasized broad, bipartisan support from members of Congress for Ukraine’s war effort. 

“For all the disagreement we have in our Congress on some issues, there is significant agreement on support for Ukraine,” Biden said. 

But some House Republicans are subverting that bipartisanship in reactions to Biden’s trip on social media. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene called Biden’s trip “incredibly insulting” and said his visit demonstrates an “America Last” policy. 

“This is incredibly insulting. Today on our President’s Day, Joe Biden, the President of the United States chose Ukraine over America, while forcing the American people to pay for Ukraine’s government and war. I can not express how much Americans hate Joe Biden,” Greene said in a tweet. 

Greene was one of 11 House Republicans who co-sponsored a “Ukraine Fatigue” resolution earlier this month. The resolution called for suspending military and financial aid to Ukraine. 

Other House Republicans used Biden’s trip to criticize Biden for prioritizing Ukraine’s defense over domestic policy issues like immigration. 

“Breathtaking that President Biden can show up in Ukraine to ensure their border is secure, but can’t do the same for America,” Pennsylvania Republican Rep. Scott Perry said in a tweet. 

“So it takes two years for Joe Biden @POTUS to visit the war zone he created at our southern border, but then he goes to see another war zone he created in Ukraine,” North Carolina Republican Rep. Greg Murphy said in a tweet. 

Despite the criticism from some House Republicans, others have urged President Biden to increase support for Ukraine. House Foreign Affairs Chairman Rep. Mike McCaul said on CNN’s State of the Union in an interview that aired Sunday that bipartisan support for Ukraine is “still very strong” and called on the Biden administration to increase support to avoid a “long, protracted war.” 

Upon arriving in Ukraine, Biden announced $500 million of additional assistance to Ukraine.

US President Joe Biden declared from Kyiv on Monday that a year after invading Ukraine, “Putin’s war of conquest is failing.”

“Putin thought Ukraine was weak and the West was divided,” Biden said standing alongside Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelensky. “He thought he could outlast us. I don’t think he’s thinking that right now.”

“He’s just been plain wrong,” Biden said of Putin. “One year later, the evidence is right here in this room. We stand here together.”

Biden’s visit to Ukraine, his first since the invasion, was a highly symbolic moment meant to demonstrate lasting American support for the country and its people.

He harkened back to the start of the war, when the world was anxiously watching the buildup of Russian troops along Ukraine’s border.

In his speech, Biden recalled how he and Zelensky spoke by phone as “Russian planes were in the air and tanks were going across your border.”

“The world was about to change,” he said, recalling what Zelensky asked him to do on that phone call: “Gather the leaders of the world. Ask them to support Ukraine.”

“You said that you didn’t know when we’d be able to speak again. That dark night one year ago, the world was literally at the time bracing for the fall of Kyiv,” Biden said. “Perhaps even the end of Ukraine.”

“One year later, Kyiv stands. And Ukraine stands. Democracy stands,” he declared. “The Americans stand with you and the world stands with you.”

Biden said that Kyiv has “captured a part of my heart.”