Jill Biden makes surprise visit to Ukraine on Mother’s Day

Dr Biden meets with Ukraine’s first lady Olena Zelenska

First Lady Jill Biden became the highest-profile US political figure to visit wartime Ukraine when she made a surprise trip to the country’s western region on Sunday.

Dr Biden met with Ukraine’s first lady Olena Zelenska in the western Ukrainian town of Uzhhorod, presenting her with a bouquet of flowers. The first lady was also bearing a corsage on her arm that was, according to pool reports, a Mother’s Day gift from her husband. The visit was not announced by the White House beforehand.

“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,” Dr Biden said.

The White House pool and UN officials accompanied Dr Biden and captured images of her hugging Ms Zelenska, wife of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who has been in hiding since the Russian invasion began.

“We understand what it takes for the US first lady to come here during a war, where the military actions are taking place every day, where the air sirens are happening every day, even today,” Ms Zelenska said, according to the pool report.

President Joe Biden has faced questions from his critics in the media and US political establishment as to whether he would visit Ukraine following visits from other world leaders including the UK’s prime minister, Boris Johnson and now Canada’s prime minister Justin Trudeau. The Canadian leader visited on Sunday as well, touring the Ukrainian town of Irpin which was retaken from occupying Russian forces.

The town’s mayor told Reuters that Mr Trudeau “came to Irpin to see with his own eyes all the horror which Russian occupiers have caused to our town”, while the prime minister confirmed the visit in a statement on Twitter and promised further comment in the hours ahead.

“I’m in Ukraine with @cafreel and and @melaniejoly today. We’re here to show our support for Ukraine and its people. Our message to President @ZelenskyyUa and Ukrainians is this: Canada will always stand shoulder to shoulder with Ukraine. More to come on our visit,” he wrote.

Western Ukraine is being ravaged by airstrikes as the bulk of the fighting in Ukraine has shifted to the east, especially around Mariupol where Russian forces appear to be on the brink of achieving total control of the city; doing so would amount to Moscow’s first capture of a major civilian centre since the war began and its military failed to neutralise Kyiv.

Dozens are feared dead after bombs struck a school in the eastern Ukrainian region of Luhansk, according to Reuters, which reported that the region’s governor announced the deaths of as many as 60 people.

"Thirty people were evacuated from the rubble, seven of whom were injured. Sixty people were likely to have died,” Serhiy Gaidai reportedly said on Telegram.

Dr Biden met with Ukrainian mothers and children on Saturday where she said that “the hearts of the American people are with the mothers of Ukraine.”

A day earlier she met with refugees in neighbouring Romania, as well as US servicemembers stationed in the Nato member country.

A US official told pool reporters that it was Ms Zelensky’s first public appearance since the invasion began.

The trip follows visits from US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and a congressional delegation as well as top defense department officials including Secretary Lloyd Austin.

The Biden administration has continued a campaign of full-throated support for Ukraine and some hawkish members of the president’s party have even begun to claim that the US is now involved in a “proxy” war with Russia.

“ We’re not just at war to support Ukraine, but fundamentally, although somewhat through a proxy, we are at war with Russia,” Democratic Representative Seth Moulton, of Massachuetts, said last week.