(FreedomBeacon.com)- President Joe Biden made a surprise visit to Kyiv on Monday where he met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelesky and took a brief tour of the city center.
As the two presidents appeared publicly on the streets of the capital, an air-raid siren began to wail. The siren continued until the president’s motorcade was leaving St. Michael’s monastery where he had paid his respects to the Ukrainian soldiers that have been killed since Russia annexed Crimea in 2014.
During a segment on CNN, senior national security correspondent Alex Marquardt said that in the five days he had been in Kyiv, he had not heard air raid sirens until President Biden was touring the center of the city.
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Marquardt’s revelation led some to wonder if the air raid siren’s wail was staged as part of President Biden’s visit.
However, according to the New York Times, Monday’s air raid siren was triggered by the take-off of a Russian MIG fighter from neighboring Belarus. Missiles fired from Belarus can strike a target in Kyiv in less than twenty minutes, the Times reported.
During his five-hour visit to Kyiv, the president announced another $500 million in military aid, including artillery, Howitzers, and Javelin missiles.
President Zelensky told reporters that he had spoken with President Biden about additional weapons, including long-range weapons, that could be supplied to his country.
Russian officials were alerted to the president’s trip to Ukraine several hours before he arrived, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan told reporters on Monday. Sullivan said the White House informed the Kremlin to avoid any conflict with Russian forces in Ukraine.
According to Sullivan, while the planning had been in the works for months, the final decision to send the president to Ukraine was made last Friday during an Oval Office meeting with top White House advisors and security officials.
