US President Joe Biden makes surprise visit to Ukraine ahead of Russian invasion’s first anniversary

US president Joe Biden has been spotted in the Ukraine capital Kyiv on a surprise visit this morning.

The 46th president was filmed walking the city streets with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, ahead of the first anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine this Friday.

Biden and Zelenskyy visited the Wall of Remembrance of the Fallen for Ukraine, newspaper The Kyiv Independent reports, while air raid sirens sounded just before the visit became public.

Zelenskyy posted a photo of the two men shaking hands in front of the US and Ukrainian flags on his Telegram account.

He wrote: “Joseph Biden, welcome to Kyiv! Your visit is an extremely important sign of support for all Ukrainians.”

Ukrainian MP Lesia Vasylenko wrote on Twitter: “Yes, confirmed POTUS in Kyiv. Welcome Mr President! Looking forward to the announcements following the air raid sirens experience.”

Roads were closed causing traffic jams in Kyiv this morning, according to the BBC, as officials prepared for the president’s arrival.

It came ahead of a planned three-day visit to Poland where Biden is expected to meet the Polish prime minister Mateusz Morawiecki and discuss stationing more troops in Poland.

Around 11,000 personnel are on rotation in Poland, CBS News reports, after the US ramped up its military presence in the eastern European nation ahead of Putin’s entry into Ukraine.

The visit follows a surprise visit by Zelenskyy to the UK, during which he spoke to MPs and peers in Westminster Hall and inspected Ukrainian troops training at a British military base with PM Rishi Sunak.

Zelenskyy used the visit to call for Western nations to give Ukraine fighter jets to “defend freedom”.