President Joe Biden’s surprise six-hour visit to Kyiv to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Feb. 20 was planned by the White House for months but wasn’t “a go” until Feb. 17, administration officials told journalists during a phone conference after Biden left the embattled nation without disclosing when and how he did so.
“This visit was meticulously planned over a period of months, involving several offices in the White House, of course, the Chief of Staff’s office, and the NSC [National Security Council], and the White House Military Office, as well as a small number of colleagues from the Pentagon, the Secret Service, and of course, the intelligence community,” Deputy National Security Adviser John Finer said.
