After Ukrainian forces sent Russia retreating in early April, Boris Johnson, Ursula von der Leyen, Antonio Guterres, and others have visited Kyiv to meet Volodymyr Zelensky. The visits, while good for photo-ops, also send an important message: that the world stands behind Ukraine and will not yield to Putin. Inevitably, such news makes its way through a great firewall of censorship to Russia, where its people may learn of the world’s support for democracy, juxtaposed against their own government. It’s an important step to break down public confidence in Putin’s regime.
This revolving door of top-level leaders raises the impending question: When will Joe go? A visit by President Biden to Kyiv would be an event of high significance and could yield many foreign-policy dividends for America. It would cement the U.S. role as a leader in Europe, against Russia, and for democracy – to observers around the world, especially in Russia and China. It’d be a public relations coup d’état, and further weaken Russians’ morale to fight this reluctant war at Putin’s behest.
There is some opposition to such a visit, partly on the grounds that it might be too dangerous. But presidents have visited war zones since Lyndon Johnson was in office. The last four presidents all went to Iraq and Afghanistan during combat operations. And Kyiv has already seen high-ranking U.S. delegations. Speaker Pelosi, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, and Senator Mitch McConnell and other Republicans — not to mention Biden’s own wife, the First Lady — round out this list. The objection that travelling by air poses too many risks neglects that most leaders have visited by land via Poland. Biden himself went to Rzeszow, Poland, in March — a city near the Ukrainian border, and within a few hours of Lviv, a major humanitarian hub.
These seem to be logistical excuses covering up what is probably the real reason: Biden isn’t up to the task. His advanced age raises the questions of fitness to travel and acuity while doing so. These are not just punchlines to make fun of Biden; they are serious questions affecting national security. March’s visit was a case in point. During a speech in Warsaw, he ad-libbed that Putin “cannot remain in power,” which came off as suggesting that Putin be overthrown, a massively dangerous gambit that could escalate the war dramatically. If ordinary citizens could infer this, Biden — an old Washington foreign-policy hand — had to have known, assuming he was of a right mind. Gaffes like this one could have far worse effects — or, at the very least, embarrass our country during a visit to Ukraine. The White House likely knows this too, which is probably why Biden’s handlers have decided against it. Former White House press secretary Jen Psaki said last month that “we’re not sending the president to Ukraine” — as if the press office had the power to “send” the president of the United States anywhere at its whim.
It should sadden us that our commander-in-chief likely cannot perform this duty of state and notch a foreign-policy win for our country. Kyiv is the place to be, and our president should be front and center, leading the free world over there. As 2024 nears, it’s another reason to question whether he is up to the job.