On Monday, February 20, US President Joe Biden’s name popped up on every news outlet in Ukraine and probably in the world when, during his planned visit to Europe,

he unexpectedly made a symbolic detour to Kyiv. POTUS was expected to visit Poland but instead appeared in the capital of Ukraine with his first-ever visit to the war-torn country.

On February 18, Biden left Washington without warning after dining with his wife at a restaurant outside the White House. On Sunday evening, the White House posted a public schedule for Monday,

in which the president was still supposed to be in Washington and was going to leave for Warsaw in the evening, although, as we now know, he was already in Warsaw, from where he took a train to Kyiv.

On Monday morning in Kyiv, several streets in the city center and areas close to the US Embassy were blocked, and emergency security measures were taken.

Kyivites also noticed an unknown motorcade on the streets of the capital, which led to many journalists and bloggers speculating about a possible visit of a high-ranking US official to Kyiv.