U.S. President Joe Biden Sneaked Into Ukraine And Succeeded, Before Social Media Blew It Up

When Presidents travel, lots of people go with them. And the President that has one of the largest of the entourages, is the President of the United States.

The U.S. government has maintained a variety of transportation methods. Simply because of the President is also the Commander-in-Chief, military transports and escorts are exclusively used for international travel. Using whatever methods of transportation, the U.S. President always bring on board the call sign of the transportation service, followed by the word "One."

Following the President during international visits, include Secret Service personnel who are always there, as well as a group of his senior aides, his medical team, journalists and others, depending on the length of the trip and its purpose.

It's no small task for everyone involved when the U.S. President is away from Washington, DC.

Because of this, it's extremely rare for the President to go anywhere unnoticed.

And in one of those rare occasions, is when Joe Biden visited Ukraine, during its war with Russia.

It all began when Joe Biden’s motorcade departed from the White House around 3:30 a.m. local time on Sunday.

In fact, he didn't even bring his big and highly customized Boeing 747-200B Air Force VC-25A for the trip.

Instead, Biden disappeared into the early morning sky using an Air Force C-32, which is a modified Boeing 757, best known as the plane used by the Vice President of the United States (using the call sign "Air Force Two" when aboard), the First Lady, and the secretary of state, and some other members of the President's Cabinet and members of Congress.

Biden himself has previously used this plane for domestic trips to smaller airports.

Unlike the Air Force VC-25A, this Air Force C-32 had to refuel, and that it was refueled during a stop in Ramstein Air Base in Germany. During the hour long refueling, the Boeing was parked further from any parked commercial airliners, in the dark and away from the tarmac, next to a hangar.

Even the shades on its windows were all pulled down.

After that, when the plane was airborne again, its transponder was switched off for the roughly hour-long flight to Rzeszów-Jasionka Airport in Poland.

Rzeszów-Jasionka Airport is a Polish airport, but since Russia's invasion to Ukraine, this airport has also become an international hub for the U.S.-led effort to arm the Ukrainians, funneling billions of dollars of weaponry and ammunition.

But again, during this trip, Biden didn't bring anything flashy in his entourage.

While many of the streets in Poland had to be blocked, Biden was not using his armored Beast, the presidential state car called the Cadillac One.

Instead, Biden was driven around in a more subtle black SUV.

He also travelled on land with a far fewer motorcade.

In Poland, Biden met Andrzej Duda, President of the Republic of Poland, where he expressed his support for the region.

It was only after this, that things got pretty tense.

After his official visit to Poland, Biden boarded a train for his 10 hour trip to Ukraine.

The train in question have regularly carries world leaders to wartime Kyiv. And when Biden boarded it, it was nicknamed the "Train Force One" by Ukrzaliznytsia, the Ukrainian state-owned rail company.

During this particular trip, everyone had their electronic devices switched off and turned over to the White House officials.

Biden arrived in Kyiv, Ukraine, around 8 a.m. local time on Monday.

Biden was greeted by Bridget Ann Brink, the Ambassador of the United States of America to Ukraine, before he was driven inside a SUV to Mariinskyi Palace, the official residence of the President of Ukraine.

There, Biden met with Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and together, they made multiple stops around the city.

The only important people with him at the time, were the military aide carrying the so-called "nuclear football," a small medical team, and two documentation team members instead of the usual 13.

Usually, Biden would bring radio, TV, photo and written press organizations. This time however, the team was cut to only one photographer and one writer, both of whom were officials of the White House.

Even the Ukrainian government didn't announce that Biden was there.

Biden only made his visit to Ukraine public, after he left Ukraine.

Biden was in Ukraine for about five hours.

Before leaving Ukraine using the same train that brought him there, Biden made a quick visit to the U.S. Embassy, accompanied by Ambassador Brink.

But still, even when the President went incognito, and that allies have supplied surface-to-air missile systems to bolster Ukraine’s defenses, and that U.S. surveillance planes, including Boeing E-3 Sentry airborne early warning and control plane and Boeing RC-135 reconnaissance aircraft were patrolling over Kyiv from Polish airspace, the visit indeed carried risks.

Literally nobody knew about Biden's planned visit to Ukraine besides only those who were directly involved, before hours towards his visit.

According to national security adviser Jake Sullivan who also travelled with Biden to Ukraine, the trip "required a security, operational, and logistical effort from professionals across the U.S. government to take what was an inherently risky undertaking and make it a manageable risk."

And this is also why the White House said that Moscow was also given a notice of Biden's trip.

"We did notify the Russians that President Biden will be traveling to Kyiv," said Sullivan. "We did so some hours before his departure for deconfliction purposes."

Biden has been planning to visit Ukraine since 2022, following other Western officials and government leaders who have came to Kyiv to witness the war-torn country, and pledge support for Zelenskyy.

Days earlier, in Russia, pundits and experts in the country spoke on Russian state television discussing the war, and the anticipated visit of U.S. President Joe Biden to Poland.

They confidently asserted that Biden would never dare travel to war-torn Ukraine.

The only thing that made Biden's location public quite before it should, was when the word of his presence was leaked before he could get back to Poland.

Biden's aides and entourage only managed to hold the President's whereabouts a secret for only a few hours before the public became aware of his mission.

It was only then that the first images of Biden in the capital popped up on Ukrainian social media and the secret visit became global news.

After this, the general public in Russia became puzzled.

"The White House has confirmed that Biden really is in the Ukrainian capital. He really came to the Ukrainian capital. Zelensky just published the pictures [...] . There he is, Biden, in the flesh," a state national news said.

The program then played a footage of the U.S. President walking alongside Zelensky and shaking hands with Ukrainian officials.

Officials in Russia went furious.

Some started saying that the West is heading towards an escalation, and that Russia needs to retaliate.

Some others said that by sending its own President to Ukraine, the Americans seemingly assume that Russia isn't planning to respond to anything.

To visit the war-torn Ukraine, the country which is still under attack by Russia, the Secret Service have certainly visited Kyiv beforehand.

Also, a small group of senior officials at the White House and across U.S. national security agencies have been working in secret for months to make this travel happen

It's extremely rare for a U.S. leader to travel to a conflict zone where the U.S. or its allies did not have control over the airspace.

In Ukraine, the U.S. military does not have a presence other than a small detachment of Marines guarding the embassy in Kyiv.

Biden who came unnoticed with only a few men sworn to secrecy, made his visit far more complicated than any previous visits by any prior U.S. leaders to war zones.

Whereas previous presidential visits to Afghanistan or Iraq, for example, the Presidents had all from the Secret Service to U.S. troops and local backups providing security. This time, Biden had only a fraction of that.

But still, everything was manageable.

What's more, Biden visit has given many Ukrainians fighting near the eastern front line 'a morale boost'.

According to Washington, the U.S. would also provide Ukraine with additional military aid package worth $500 million.

Biden's last visit to Ukraine was when he was vice president under Barack Obama.

"It's good to be back in Kyiv," he said.

"One year ago, the world was bracing for the fall of Kyiv," Biden remarked during a speech after he returned to Warsaw. "Well, I have just come from a visit to Kyiv, and I can report: Kyiv stands strong! Kyiv stands proud. It stands tall. And most important, it stands free."