Residents of Kyiv welcomed US President Joe Biden’s visit to Ukraine’s capital, saying his presence in the country is meaningful.
“That really impressed me. He’s good, I wasn’t expecting his visit. I’m sure his visit means a lot,” 40-year-old Yuliya Ivanova said.
“Biden will be able to look at the situation in Ukraine from the inside, he will be able to talk to a lot of representatives of our government. He will look and see how difficult it is for us. I think we will be able to count on more US help.”
Tetyana Yevtushenko, a 30-year-old doctor, also said Ukrainians were grateful for the President’s visit. “We hope it will give us support,” she said.
“It’s just something unbelievable that at a time like this the President of the United States is coming to Kyiv,” 48-year-old Ukrainian service-member Andrei Ketov added. “I think this visit will bring us ‘carrots,’ something good, we are having a very hard time right now.”
“We need weapons and finances. We don’t have our own. And the Russians have a lot of everything,” he added.
Student Vitaly Dmyterchuk, 19, described the visit as “a very memorable day.”
“We argued among ourselves whether Biden would come or not. I didn’t believe he was coming,” he said. “This is a huge support for us, we know that in America we have a lot of support and help.”
“And so there is a great flow of weapons and humanitarian aid … But there hasn’t been such a large-scale war since World War II. And sometimes that aid is not enough. I know how soldiers on the front line suffer.”
Ilya Zelenko, a 20-year-old student, added: “I was very happy when I found out that Biden came, we expect even more support. Now we see a coalition around Ukraine, we want to see it strengthened, and (that) we (are) given even more weapons.”