WASHINGTON (Washington Insider Magazine) – The White House announced Sunday that Jill Biden would spend Mother’s Day engaging with Ukrainian mothers and kids who escaped for their lives when Russian President Vladimir Putin declared war on Ukraine.
According to ABC NEWS, the meeting on May 8 will take effect in Slovakia, 1 of 2 eastern European nations the first lady intends to travel during a 5-day tour that begins on Thursday. She will also make a stop in Romania.
Biden’s visit will be his latest display of support for Ukraine.
Ukraine, which has spent the last 2 months battling against Russia’s armed invasion, shares borders with Slovakia and Romania. Slovakia and Romania are also members of NATO.
According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, about 5.5 million Ukrainians, mainly children and women, have escaped since Russia attacked its tiny neighbor on February 24. Many have migrated to neighboring nations or to other parts of Europe.
Jill Biden will speak with US service personnel, US embassy staff, educators, and humanitarian relief workers during her trip, according to the White House.
She is set to visit with US service men at Mihail Kogalniceanu Air Base, a US military facility near the Black Sea, after landing in Romania on Friday.
On Saturday, she will travel to Bucharest, Romania’s capital, to meet with U.S. Embassy officials, government officials, educators, and humanitarian relief workers who are assisting in the education of displaced Ukrainian children. The first lady will fly to Bratislava, Slovakia, to meet with officials at the US Embassy.
Jill Biden will go to Slovakia’s Vysne Nemecke and Kosice on May 8 to meet with humanitarian assistance workers, refugees, and local Slovakians who are assisting Ukrainian families seeking asylum in Slovakia.
On May 9, she will meet with officials of the Slovakian government before heading back to the United States.
Following her travel to Tokyo previous year for the kickoff of the postponed 2020 Olympic Games, it will be the first lady’s 2nd international excursion. The visit will also be her most recent show of support for Ukraine.
Biden attended a White House function wearing a face mask decorated with a sunflower, Ukraine’s national flower, 4 days after Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24.
She also asked Oksana Markarova, Ukraine’s envoy States, to sit beside her at President Joe Biden’s State of the Union speech in March, and had a sunflower sewed into the sleeves of the blue outfit she wore for the event.
During a visit to Poland in March, President Biden met with Ukrainian refugees.
