On a surprise visit.. Joe Biden in Kiev

Biden met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in the Ukrainian capital, on his first visit to the country since the conflict began.

Sirens sounded across the Ukrainian capital during Biden’s visit to Kiev, but there were no reports of missile or air strikes from Russia.

Biden and Zelensky held a meeting at St. Michael’s Cathedral in Kiev.

“Welcome to Kiev,” Zelensky told Biden. “Your visit is a very important sign of support for all Ukrainians.”

He added that he had discussed with the US President the supply of long-range weapons to Kiev.

And our correspondent reported that Biden visited a memorial wall for the dead Ukrainian army in Kiev.

For his part, Biden said in Kiev that Ukraine will receive a new $500 million military aid package to be announced on Tuesday.

This comes in the midst of Biden’s visit to Poland, Monday, on the first anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which it said had inflicted heavy losses on troops in Europe’s biggest conflict since World War II.

The war, which began on February 24 of last year, has killed hundreds of thousands, displaced millions and reduced cities to rubble across vast swathes of southern and eastern Ukraine.