13 April 2022 — 1628 mdt
There’s a good argument that President Joe Biden should
visit Kyiv as a gesture of solidarity and American strength
By James Conner
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson popped up in Kyiv, Ukraine, Saturday. He made the journey by Ukrainian rail following a secret flight to Warsaw, Poland — and, according to The Guardian, after a battle royal with his security detail.
He conducted no business in Kyiv he could not have conducted from London, but his appearance in the Ukrainian capital greatly boosted the spirits of Ukrainians. Earlier, on 15 March, the prime ministers of Poland, the Czech Republic, and Slovenia, visited Kyiv.
Could President Joe Biden make the same journey? Yes. Should he? Definitely.
The Russian forces that failed to encircle Kyiv have withdrawn into Belarus, where they will regroup, refit, and redeploy to eastern Ukraine. The city remains within Russian rocket, missile, and bomber range — but Putin’s retreat and refocus on eastern and southern Ukraine suggests Kyiv is a much safer city than it was two weeks ago.
If an airfield there has an intact runway that can accommodate the USAF C-32 (Boeing 757) that serves as Air Force One for airfields too short for the President’s massive and majestic Boeing 747 (the C-32 can take off in 4,000 feet [source 1, source 2]), Biden could fly from Warsaw to Kyiv in an hour. If not, he, too, could travel by rail, although I think that might be riskier.
Suppose Biden announced he was flying to Kyiv on a given date. What is the likelihood that Putin would order his air force or missile corps to shoot down Air Force One? Lower, I suspect, than rolling a dozen consecutive double snake eyes; lower than convincing Joe Manchin to support Build Back Better, new voting rights protections, and a rapid phase out of fossil fuels.
I’m convinced Biden could fly into Kyiv unescorted without undue risk.
The Secret Service, of course, and his risk averse aides, would shudder at the thought, and argue, as Johnson’s protectors no doubt argued, that because there is no business Biden could conduct in Kyiv that could not be conducted from Washington, D.C., the reward of Biden’s showing the flag in Kyiv would not be worth the risk. They cannot argue otherwise, for their job is keeping Biden alive. If they could, they would lock him in a secret underground bunker for the duration of his presidency. That’s how security minds work, and why bodyguards must be told “This is what we’re doing and how we’re doing it.”
Conducting business, of course, is not the reason western leaders are visiting and should visit Kyiv. They are visiting Kyiv to raise the spirits of Ukrainians; to remind Vladimir Putin that they are welcome there and he is not; and to reassure the world that the leaders of NATO’s nations do not fear a tinhorn Russian dictator. Making such gestures matters. It matters a great deal. And because it matters a great deal, it justifies taking risks that national leaders might otherwise not take.
If Biden visited Kyiv, would that silence the Republican critics who argue that he’s timid, that he’s a doddering old codger whose brain has slowed, and that he’s not doing enough to help Ukraine?
No.
Nothing Biden does on Ukraine (or any other issue) can or will satisfy Republicans. Thwarting everything he does to help Americans and people around the world, making him appear weak and ineffectual, are their highest priorities because they intend to replace him with a Republican in 2024. They are subordinating the common good to their electoral fortunes. It’s the strategy the GOP has employed since Newt Gingrich became Speaker of the House during Bill Clinton’s first term and replaced bipartisanship with the Republican’s Contract for [on] America.
Therefore, Biden’s visiting Kyiv would not silence his Republican critics. But his presence in Ukraine’s beleaguered capital would inspirit that nation’s good people, and remind the world, and that tinhorn, Putin, that the United States fears no one.
Shrug on your bomber jacket, Mr. President, and hie thee to Kyiv.