U.S. will remain with Ukraine for 'as long as it takes,' Biden says on surprise visit to Kyiv

U.S. President Joe Biden made an unannounced visit to Ukraine's capital on Monday to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, a gesture of solidarity that comes days before the one-year anniversary of Russia's invasion of its neighbour.

Biden delivered remarks and met with Zelenskyy at Mariinsky Palace in Kyiv to announce an additional half-billion dollars in U.S. assistance and to reassure Ukraine of American and allied support as the conflict continues.

"One year later, Kyiv stands. And Ukraine stands. Democracy stands. The Americans stand with you, and the world stands with you," Biden said, despite what he called a "brutal and unjust war."

The Ukraine visit comes at a crucial moment in the war as Biden looks to keep allies unified in their support for Ukraine as the war is expected to intensify with both sides preparing for spring offensives. Zelenskyy is pressing allies to speed up delivery of pledged weapon systems and is calling on the West to deliver fighter jets to Ukraine — something that Biden to date has declined to do.

Biden announced the additional U.S. assistance — on top of the more than $50 billion US already provided — including shells for howitzers, anti-tank missiles, air surveillance radars and other aid but no new advanced weaponry.

Ukraine has also been pushing for battlefield systems that would allow its forces to strike Russian targets that have been moved back from front-line areas, out of the range of HIMARS missile systems that have already been delivered.

Zelenskyy said he and Biden spoke about "long-range weapons and the weapons that may still be supplied to Ukraine even though it wasn't supplied before." But he did not detail any new commitments. "Our negotiations were very fruitful," Zelenskyy said.

Biden's mission with his visit to Kyiv — and then Warsaw — is to underscore that the U.S. is prepared to continue its support of Kyiv as it repels Russian forces, with the U.S. leader saying "the United States will remain with Ukraine as long as it takes."

The U.S. president pledged long-term support for Ukraine, saying that "freedom is priceless. It's worth fighting for for as long as it takes."

"And that's how long we're going to be with you, Mr. President, for as long as it takes," Biden promised. Zelenskyy, speaking in English, responded: "We'll do it."

For Zelenskyy, the symbolism of having the U.S. president stand side by side with him on Ukrainian land as the anniversary of the Feb. 24 invasion nears is no small thing as he prods the U.S. and European allies to provide more advanced weaponry and to step up the pace of delivery.

The visit also gave Biden an opportunity to get a first-hand look at some of the devastation the Russian invasion has caused. Thousands of Ukrainian troops and civilians have been killed, millions of refugees have fled the war and Ukraine has suffered tens of billions of dollars of infrastructure damage.

Biden got a short first-hand taste of the terror that Ukrainians have lived with for close to a year, as air raid sirens howled over the capital just as he and Zelenskyy were exiting the gold-domed St. Michael's Cathedral, which they visited together.

Looking solemn, they continued unperturbed as they laid two wreaths and held a moment of silence at the Wall of Remembrance honouring Ukrainian soldiers killed since 2014, the year Russia annexed Ukraine's Crimean peninsula and Russian-backed fighting erupted in eastern Ukraine.