Photo: Drew Angerer / Getty Images
For: EFE Updated 14 Apr 2022, 15: 51 pm EDT
The president of the United States, Joe Biden, said this Thursday that he is thinking of sending a high-ranking US official to Ukraine, after recent visits to kyiv by some of his allies.
” We are making that decision now,” Biden told reporters when asked about this possible trip to the Ukraine, before taking off for Greensboro (North Carolina) to promote his economic measures.
The deputy White House spokeswoman, Karine Jean-Pierre, later stated in statements to the press that this issue is still “being debated” among the president’s advisers , and that he had no further details to provide.
According to CNN, it is unlikely that anyone trip to Ukraine is Biden himself or the vice president of the United States, Kamala Harris ; and what the White House is analyzing is the possibility of sending the Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, or the Secretary of Defense, Lloyd Austin.
Last week, both the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, and the High Representative of the EU for Foreign Policy, Josep Borrell, visited kyiv; and on Saturday the British Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, did the same.
At the end of March, Biden visited the US troops deployed on the Polish border with Ukraine, and claimed to feel “disappointed” because, due to to the security situation, his team had not “let” him cross into Ukrainian territory to assess for himself the impact of the war started by Russia.
Since then, Russian soldiers have withdrawn from the outskirts of kyiv and the focus of the conflict has moved to the east of the country, which explains why the White House is now considering a possible visit to show its support for the Ukrainian president, Volodímir Zelenski.
The president hinted this Thursday that he would still like to travel to Ukraine personally, when asking the journalists who cover the Casa Blanca: “Are you ready to go?”. When asked by a female reporter if he was, Biden replied yes.
However, the security deployment required every time the president of the United States travels will deter his advisers from sending Biden, and this Monday, the White House spokeswoman, Jen Psaki, already said there was no plan to do so.
Although Biden has spoken by phone with Zelensky several times since the Russian invasion began -the last one, this Wednesday-, no American official has met in person with the Ukrainian leader since the beginning of the war.
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