Joe Biden makes surprise visit to Kyiv

Kyiv: US President Joe Biden made a surprise trip to Ukraine on Monday - his first visit to the country since war broke out nearly a year ago. The gesture of solidarity came mere days before the one-year anniversary of Russia's invasion.

As air raid sirens blared across the Ukrainian capital, Biden met with President Volodymyr Zelensky and announced an additional half billion dollars in US assistance. Meanwhile, the White House has also indicated that Biden would announce fresh sanctions against Moscow.

"One year later, Kyiv stands. And Ukraine stands. Democracy stands. The Americans stand with you and the world stands with you," Biden said during a joint address with Zelensky at Mariinsky Palace. He also sought to reassure Ukraine of American and allied support as the conflict continues.

"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," Biden said.

Uniformed Ukrainian military officers lined the street just outside. Biden and Zelensky walked over and together laid a wreath at the Wall of Remembrance for the fallen heroes of the Russian-Ukrainian war, as a military salute played, and the two Presidents stared down in silence for a few moments.

Zelensky said he and Biden discussed long range weapons during the visit. He hailed the trip an 'extremely important sign of support for all Ukrainians'."Joseph Biden, welcome to Kyiv! Your visit is an extremely important sign of support for all Ukrainians," Zelensky posted on Telegram. The war is expected to intensify in the coming months as both sides prepare for spring offensives.

While Zelensky has repeatedly pressed allies to delivery of pledged weapon systems and called on the West to deliver fighter jets to Ukraine, the US has so far declined to do so. While the two leaders spoke about weapons that "that may still be supplied to Ukraine even though it wasn't supplied before" on Monday, there were no new commitments.