How President Biden pulled off a secret trip to Ukraine one year into Russia's war

While most of Washington slept, President Joe Biden arrived in Kyiv around 8 a.m. local time Monday aboard a train that traveled overnight from neighboring Poland.

The dramatic display of solidarity with Ukraine was the culmination of months of planning by a small team of administration officials. A final decision came in an Oval Office meeting Friday to move forward with a secret trip to war-torn Ukraine ahead of the one-year anniversary of Russia's invasion.

The historic mission posed extraordinary risks. Although presidents Donald Trump and Barack Obama made surprise visits to Afghanistan and Iraq, this was the first presidential trip to a war zone in which the U.S. did not have a military presence.

"I thought it was critical that there not be any doubt, none whatsoever, about U.S. support for Ukraine in the war," Biden said at 9 a.m. local time alongside Ukranian President Volodymr Zelenskyy, who had greeted him 30 minutes earlier at Mariinksy Palace, the president's official residence.

Donning Ukraine's colors with a blue and yellow striped tie, Biden spent about five hours in Kyiv before departing for Poland, which White House officials insisted last week would be Biden's only destination during his three-day swing to Europe. 

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When did Biden leave for Kyiv?

The secret journey began nearly 20 hours earlier when – in a deviation from Biden's public schedule – the president arrived at Andrews Air Force base at about 4 a.m. EST Sunday. He boarded Air Force One with two reporters and a small group of White House officials including national security adviser Jake Sullivan and deputy chief of staff Jen O’Malley Dillon.

“The trip from Washington was a trip filled with real anticipation that this was an important moment, and that the president was rising to the moment and felt he had an important mission to undertake, and he was eager to do it,” Sullivan said.

Air Force One landed first at Ramstein Air Base in Germany at 5:13 p.m. local time Sunday night and stayed grounded a little over an hour before taking off to Poland. Biden arrived at the Rzeszów-Jasionka Airport in southeastern Poland at 7:57 p.m. local time Sunday.

Biden's motorcade then departed for the Przemyśl Główny train station, where he boarded one of eight train cars that – painted blue with a yellow stripe down the middle – resembled the type of trains that have carried Ukrainian refugees into Poland. 

Biden takes 10-hour train ride into Ukraine

Biden, a well-known lover of trains, then embarked on likely the most momentous ride of his life: a 10-hour trip in the dead of night into a country ravaged by war, arriving at the Kyiv-Pasazhyrsky station about 8 a.m. local time. Bridget Brink, U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, was there to greet the president.

"It's good to be back in Kyiv," Biden said after exiting the train, making his first trip to Ukraine since six visits he made there as vice president, the last in 2017. 

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For security reasons, the two reporters who traveled with Biden – a pool reporter from the Wall Street Journal and a reporter from The Associated Press – agreed not to provide real-time updates on Biden's movements. The White House has declined to discuss the full logistics of Biden's trip until it concludes. 

Even in its official guidance, the White House maintained Biden would be leaving for Poland on Monday evening. 

As Biden flew across the Atlantic Ocean, National Security Council spokesman John Kirby made the rounds on the Sunday morning TV talk shows, making no mention that Biden would be landing in Ukraine the next morning. 

US alerted Russia about trip for 'deconfliction purposes'

“Thank you for coming,” Zelenskyy said, greeting Biden outside the palace. “This conversation brings us closer to the victory."

In joint remarks with Zelenskyy, Biden committed an additional $460 million in security assistance to Ukraine. It followed a meeting in which the two leaders discussed the next steps of the war, which Russian President Vladimir Putin has shown no signs of ending. 

Biden and Zelenskky later visited St. Michael’s Gold-Domed Cathedral, spending about 10 minutes inside, as air raid sirens blasted outside. They then laid a wreath at the Wall of Remembrance to honor the country's fallen soldiers.

“One year later, Kyiv stands. And Ukraine stands. Democracy stands,” Biden said. 

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After visiting the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv at noon local time, Biden entered the motorcade and started rolling roughly 45 minutes later to an undisclosed location. He departed Kyiv, returning to Poland at 10:04 p.m. local time on the same train that he rode into Ukraine.

Biden then took a short flight to Warsaw, where he will meet with Polish President Andrzej Duda and deliver a speech Tuesday night on the one-year anniversary of Russia's war in Ukraine 

Biden Kyiv trip 'meticulously planned' for months

Sullivan said Russia was notified that Biden would be traveling to Kyiv “some hours before his departure for deconfliction purposes.” Sullivan did not offer details on the message nor the response from Russia because of “the sensitive nature of those communications."

Deputy national security adviser Jon Finer said the visit was “meticulously planned over a period of months,” with involvement from the White House, NSC, the Pentagon, the Secret Service and the intelligence community.

Finer said Biden was fully briefed on each stage of the plan and of any possible contingencies. He said the final decision to go to Kyiv was made in a huddle in the Oval Office on Friday.

“Obviously, this was all worked very closely between the White House and the highest levels of the Ukrainian government, who have become quite adept at hosting high-level visitors, although not one quite like this.” 

Contributing: The Associated Press

Reach Joey Garrison on Twitter @joeygarrison