Ramstein, Rzeszów, golf turney: media tells the details of Biden's secret visit to Ukraine

Bloomberg writes about it.

Bloomberg’s sources told how the unannounced February 20 visit of Joe Biden to Ukraine was organized.

In particular, Bloomberg notes that on February 19 there were no hints that Biden was preparing to visit Kyiv. On Saturday afternoon, he attended Mass on the campus of Georgetown University, followed by a viewing of the “The First Ladies” exhibit at the National Museum of American History, and later had dinner with his wife in Washington at the Red Hen restaurant. However, already at dawn on February 20, he crossed the Atlantic on a US military plane.

Biden's visit was kept secret during months of careful planning by several of his advisers. Biden made the final decision to visit Kyiv only on February 17. Few people knew about it, even in the White House and the Pentagon.

To avert the risk of any leaks, it was determined that the traveling party would be very small – only a handful of Biden’s closest aides, a small medical team, two journalists and Biden’s security detail.

Of the media representatives, only photographer Evan Vucci of the Associated Press and reporter Sabrina Siddiqui of the Wall Street Journal got on board. On Friday, they were called into the office of White House Communications Director Kate Bedingfield on Friday and were sworn to secrecy.

They were told they would receive an email with the subject line “Arrival instructions for the golf tourney,” with details of their departure. They handed over their cell phones before the plane carrying Biden took off. The devices were not returned to them until more than 24 hours later at the US Embassy in Kyiv.

His trip began with a 4 a.m. departure from Joint Base Andrews outside Washington. The plane first flew to the Ramstein Air Base in Germany, and then to Rzeszów, Poland. He continued with a 10-hour train-ride from Poland into Ukraine, and culminated in his arrival Monday morning in Kyiv, where he stayed five hours and returned to Poland by train.

• On February 20, Joe Biden arrived on an unannounced visit to Kyiv and met with the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

• The New York Times reported that the US president reached Kyiv by train from the Polish border.

• Shortly before Biden's visit, the American side warned Russia about the inadmissibility of provocations.