First lady Jill Biden will meet with Ukrainian mothers and children who fled their homes amid the Russian invasion, wrapping up her trip visiting with U.S. service members and displaced families.
The Mother’s Day meeting will conclude the first lady’s five-day trip to Slovakia and Romania to meet with embassy personnel, humanitarian workers, and military members during the war in Ukraine. Biden is one of the highest-profile visitors from the United States to visit the war-torn area, and the trip marks her latest effort to prop up her husband in the months leading up to the midterm elections.
Biden is set to meet with Slovakian leaders on Monday before ending her trip and traveling back to the U.S. She began the first leg of her trip when she visited the Mihail Kogalniceanu Air Base in Romania on Friday, where she met with U.S. military members before traveling to Bucharest later that day.
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The first lady met with Romanian government leaders on Saturday morning, as well as embassy staff, humanitarian workers, and teachers who opened their classrooms to Ukrainian children displaced by the invasion.
Biden joins a handful of other high-profile U.S. political figures who have visited those affected by the Ukrainian crisis, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who made a surprise visit and led a congressional delegation to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Sunday. Pelosi is the highest-ranking U.S. official to meet with him since the Russian invasion began two months ago.
"Our delegation traveled to Kyiv to send an unmistakable and resounding message to the entire world: America stands firmly with Ukraine,” Pelosi said. “[Zelensky] conveyed the clear need for continued security, economic and humanitarian assistance from the United States to address the devastating human toll taken on the Ukrainian people by Putin's diabolic invasion – and our delegation proudly delivered the message that additional American support is on the way, as we work to transform President Biden’s strong funding request into a legislative package.”
The House speaker was accompanied by six other Democratic lawmakers on her trip, including Reps. Gregory Meeks (NY), Adam Schiff (CA), Jim McGovern (MA), Bill Keating (MA), Barbara Lee (CA), and Jason Crow (CO), according to Pelosi’s office.
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Biden has shown her support for Ukraine since Russian troops invaded the country at the end of February, visiting U.S. military families at the Fort Campbell base in Kentucky. The first lady also sat with Oksana Markarova, Kyiv’s special envoy to Washington D.C., during President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address in March, signaling solidarity between the two countries.
More than 5.5 million people have fled Ukraine since the Russian invasion began, with a majority seeking refuge in Poland and Romania, according to the United Nations Refugee Agency.