First lady Jill Biden made a surprise visit into Ukraine on Sunday and met with Olena Zelenska, the wife of President Volodymyr Zelensky. Zelenska had been in hiding since Russia’s invasion began in late February.
“I wanted to come on Mother’s Day,” Biden told reporters traveling with her after they crossed into the city of Uzhhorod in western Ukraine from neighboring Slovakia. “I thought it was important to show the Ukrainian people that this war has to stop and this war has been brutal, and that the people of the United States stand with the people of Ukraine.”
The two women embraced outside a local school that is now being used as temporary housing for people who have fled fighting to the east.
“I would like to thank you for a very courageous act,” Zelenska told Biden after being gifted with a bouquet of flowers, “because we understand what it takes for the US first lady to come here during a war when the military actions are taking place every day, where the air sirens are happening every day, even today.”
