
Joe Biden leans on his long history -- and memories of 2014 -- to confront the Russia-Ukraine crisis
CNN
President Joe Biden listened politely Sunday as his Ukrainian counterpart made an audacious proposal: Fly to Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky told Biden, to show the world the United States is committed to stabilizing a region on edge.
Sitting in the wood-paneled conference room at Camp David, Biden demurred. Later, aides told CNN that a presidential visit to Kyiv -- where American officials have said Russian aerial bombardments and missile attacks could begin any day -- was exceedingly unlikely.
Yet if Biden did decide to visit, it would not be an unfamiliar city. He is currently the highest-ranking official to last visit the Ukrainian capital, jetting there as vice president three days before leaving office in January 2017. It was his sixth official visit to Ukraine, where he was hoping to prevent Russia from consuming more of the country after its annexation of Crimea in 2014.