Russian officials and state media downplayed President Joe Biden’s surprise visit to Ukraine on Monday, painting Kyiv as a U.S.
puppet and maintaining Moscow’s forces will prevail despite Washington’s pledges to send more weapons to Ukraine. Biden met with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the Ukrainian capital in a defiant display of Western solidarity with a country still fighting what he called “a brutal and unjust war” days before the one-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion.
The visit also came on the eve of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s scheduled state-of-the-nation address, which some in Russia expect to set the tone for the year ahead _ including for Putin’s bogged-down campaign in Ukraine.
Biden spent more than five hours in Kyiv, consulting with Zelenskyy on next steps, honoring the country’s fallen soldiers and seeing U.S.