Jill Biden pays surprise visit to Ukraine, meets first lady

U.S. first lady Jill Biden made an unannounced visit to western Ukraine on Sunday, holding a surprise Mother’s Day meeting with the nation’s first lady, Olena Zelenska, as Russia presses its punishing war in the eastern regions. Biden traveled under the cloak of secrecy, becoming the latest high-profile American to enter Ukraine during its 10-week-old conflict with Russia. “I wanted to come on Mother’s Day,” Biden told Zelenskyy. “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 first lady traveled by vehicle to the town of Uzhhorod, about a 10-minute drive from a Slovakian village that borders Ukraine. She spent about two hours in Ukraine. The two came together in a small classroom, sitting across a table from one another and talking before reporters before they met in private. Zelenskyy and her children have been at an undisclosed location for their safety.