KYIV: US President Joe Biden on Monday made a surprise visit to Ukraine's capital Kyiv. This is US President's first visit to Ukraine since the invasion by Russia on February 24 last year.
TV footage showed US President Biden walking along with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in capital Kyiv.
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Air raid sirens blared across the Ukrainian capital as Biden visited Kyiv but there were no reports of Russian missile or air strikes.
Recalling the fears nearly a year ago that Russian forces may take the Ukrainian capital, Biden said "Kyiv stands."
“One year later, Kyiv stands. And Ukraine stands. Democracy stands. The Americans stand with you, and the world stands with you,” Biden said standing alongside Zelenskyy.
"When Putin launched his invasion nearly one year ago, he thought Ukraine was weak and the West was divided. He thought he could outlast us. But he was dead wrong. "The cost that Ukraine has had to pay is extraordinarily high. Sacrifices have been far too great ... We know that there will be difficult days and weeks and years ahead," he added.
The US president promised a further $500 million worth of weaponry, including artillery ammunition, anti-armour systems and air defence radars, plus tighter sanctions on Russia.
Zelenskyy told Biden his visit was "an extremely important sign of support for all Ukrainians."
The Russia-Ukraine war which began on February 24 last year has cost hundreds of thousands of lives, driven millions from their homes and reduced cities to rubble across swathes of southern and eastern Ukraine.
There has been little change on the vast frontline in recent months as both sides prepare for offensives expected in the spring, Russia boosted by thousands of conscripts and Ukraine fortified with Western battle tanks.
Biden's trip fell on the day that Ukraine marks the deaths of more than 100 people - now known as the Heavenly Hundred - at anti-government protests that eventually toppled a Moscow-backed president in 2014.
Several main roads in central Kyiv were closed off to traffic on Monday morning. Drivers stood waiting in traffic as gathering crowds of pedestrians peered over barricades to get a glimpse of who had come to the capital.
(With inputs from agencies)
