Summary

URGENT: Biden is in Poland after secret trip to Ukraine

From Kevin Liptak



President Joe Biden has left Ukraine after a highly symbolic covert visit He crossed the border into Poland at roughly 8 pm local time



Biden traveled by train in and out of Kyiv, making the 10-hour journey with only a handful of advisers to two journalists



Biden flew to Poland aboard a C-32 aircraft with a refueling stop in Germany before boarding the train into Ukraine on Sunday



The train went by night into Ukraine, making only a few stops to collect additional security



Full report from the traveling press pool –





President Biden has left Ukraine and is back in Poland



Your pooler will have more specifics soon, but is sending this report since more details can be shared about the president’s movements leading up to this point



After his departure from the US Embassy in Kyiv, President Biden’s motorcade pulled up to the Kyiv-Pasazhyrsky railway station just before 1 pm and departed the Ukrainian capital city just under 10 minutes later by train



Biden had arrived at the same central Kyiv railway station at 8 am in the morning following a roughly 10-hour overnight ride originating from Przemysl Glówny in Poland



AP’s Evan Vucci was able to capture some photos of Biden on the train out of Kyiv that will be pooled Your pooler was not allowed to be present for those photos, which were taken just after we departed from Kyiv



Now that we’ve addressed the many questions and suspicions around how Biden got in and out of Ukraine, your pooler will start from the beginning and share more details about the movements that had remained under embargo for security reasons and until Biden was safely headed to Warsaw



‘The president is going to Kyiv’



Your pooler and the AP’s Evan Vucci were summoned to a private meeting on Friday in White House communications director Kate Bedingfield's office, with WHCA President Tamara Keith also in attendance We were informed that President Biden would be traveling to Kyiv and that we would be the only two journalists in the travel pool Tam has already sent an email out explaining the process



Your pool was sworn to secrecy about the trip and told to look out for an email containing instructions for an early Sunday morning departure from Andrews Air Force Base The subject line would read: “Arrival instructions for the golf tourney”



That email arrived just after 3 pm EST on Saturday and told your pool to report to Andrews between 2 am and 2:15 am EST Sunday



Departure from Andrews



Pool arrived unilaterally at Andrews and was swept at 2:15 am As mentioned in an earlier report, your pool’s phones were taken by agents and not returned until our arrival at the US Embassy in Kyiv more than 24 hours later



Your pool was driven to an Air Force C-32 often used to fly into smaller airports during domestic travel Prior to its surreptitious departure, the plane sat in the dark next to a hanger with the shades drawn and away from the tarmac where it is typically parked for presidential travel



Your pool did not see Biden board the plane We were already on board when an overhead announcement at 3:40 am EST noted the president was en route and roughly 20 minutes out A subsequent overhead announcement at 4:00 am stated that Biden had arrived



Air Force One departed from Andrews at 4:15 am EST



From here on out, please be advised that timestamps are in local time and the time changes one hour from our starting point in Poland to our destination of Kyiv



Arrival in Ramstein



AF1 touched down at Ramstein Air Base in Germany at 5:13 pm local time Sunday under slightly overcast skies to refuel after an approximately seven-hour flight



During the flight over, Jen O’Malley Dillon, Annie Tomasini and Jake Sullivan each stopped by for a brief hello but did not speak in an official capacity, hold an OTR or share any details of the trip



The plane remained with its shades down for the duration of its time on the ground, which lasted roughly an hour and 15 minutes Your pool remained in the back press cabin the entire time and did not see Biden at any point during the flight or stop in Ramstein



AF1 was wheels up again at 6:29 pm after the sun had set and the skies were dark



Arrival in Rzeszów



AF1 landed at the Rzeszów-Jasionka Airport at 7:57 pm Sunday



As you may recall, Biden traveled to Rzeszów last year and met at the airport hanger with US troops who were in Poland at the time, as well as humanitarian workers and his Polish counterpart, Andrzej Duda



The airport was clear upon Biden’s arrival Sunday Your pool did not see Biden deplane or get into his vehicle and was quickly ushered toward an SUV for press The president’s motorcade began rolling at 8:12 pm on a roughly one-hour drive along a fairly empty eastbound highway



Your pooler counted at least 20 cars in the motorcade but advises you confirm the number with officials The motorcade consisted of a mix of minivans, SUVs and suburbans and did not use sirens to avoid drawing attention



Train from Przemysl Glówny



Biden’s motorcade arrived at the Przemysl Glówny train station at approximately 9:15 pm



It was relatively quiet at this time of night with a handful of people milling about outside the station and the stalls seemingly all closed



The motorcade pulled directly up to a train that was mostly purple two large strips at the bottom from its exterior and large square windows with the shades mostly drawn A handful of the train cars were blue with a yellow stripe along the middle and were reminiscent of the trains that have brought refugees into Poland from Ukraine



Biden was dropped directly in front of his train car and your pool once again did not get a glimpse of the president



Your pool was escorted to its own train car and put in separate sleeper cabins, each of which contained four single bunkbed-style beds Your pooler was told by a security officer that the train had approx eight cars, including the engines Most of the train was occupied by a heavy security presence



A small group of passengers awaiting a separate train on the opposite side of the tracks were huddled in conversation and occasionally glanced over, but it was unclear if they could make out any of the activity unfolding before them



The train was rolling from Przemysl Glówny at 9:37 pm Your pooler was told by an agent on board that the train crossed the border into Ukraine at roughly 10:00 pm but is in the midst of confirming



Much of the journey occurred in the dark and so there was little visible beyond streetlights and the shadows of buildings in the distance There was no interaction between your pool and White House staff traveling with the president throughout the 10-hour journey, nor any sightings of Biden on his favorite mode of transport



There were a handful of stops, at least once to pick up additional security, along the way It was not always clear what prompted the stops, most of which were brief, and your pool was isolated from the staff on board



Arrival in Kyiv



As the train carrying President Biden approached Kyiv, the sun had risen and views from the window largely consisted of graffiti walls, barren winter trees and a colorful assortment of brick homes — many of them in pastel colors



The train came to a stop at the Kyiv-Pasazhyrsky station at roughly 8:00 am local time The area around the platform had been cleared and US ambassador to Ukraine Bridget Brink awaited Biden and his staff in chilly outdoor conditions



Jake Sullivan and Jen O’Malley Dillon got off the train and were followed by Biden minutes later at 8:07 am As mentioned earlier, the president’s first words after stepping off the train were: “It’s good to be back in Kyiv”



The motorcade, which again was a mix of SUVs, minivans and armored vehicles, was rolling from the train station at 8:18 am en route to Mariinsky Palace Along the way, the motorcade passed Kyiv's Independence Square, or Maidan, the site of major demonstrations in 2013-2014



You know the rest from Kyiv already But as a reminder, the president’s stops consisted of:



-Meeting with President Zelensky at Mariinsky Palace

-Walkabout with Zelensky at St Michael’s Cathedral

-Stop at US Embassy in Kyiv



As mentioned above, Biden departed Kyiv by the same train just before 1:10 pm



The ride was long and uneventful The train crossed the border back into Poland shortly after 8 pm local time (note time change from Kyiv)



The train arrived at the Przemysl Glówny at 8:45 pm Once again, your pool did not see Biden get off the train or get into his car



Motorcade was rolling at 9 pm



More to come





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TVN Poland
Monday
Przemysl, Poland

February 20, 2023

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