Biden visits Kyiv for sixth time in last foreign trip as U.S. vice president

U.S. Vice President Joe Biden visited Kyiv on Jan. 16, his sixth such trip to the Ukrainian capital before he leaves office on Friday. In a joint press conference with Ukrainian President Poroshenko, he urged the government to continue reforms in conjunction with the IMF and wean itself off Russian gas dependency. He urged the public to monitor the government’s performance. “Hope springs eternal,” Biden said when asked how relations between the countries will be under President Trump.

The Minsk Accords are the only hope in moving forward as a united country, Biden said in a joint statement with Poroshenko. The sanctions related to Russia’s military activity in Donbas must remain in place until Russia fulfills its obligations under the Minsk Accords, he stressed. The sanctions related to the illegal annexation of Crimea must remain until the territory is returned to the Ukrainian government’s control. “It’s no secret to anyone that Russia doesn’t want you to achieve success, Mr President,” he said. “That applies not only to Ukraine, but the future that we are striving for – an integrated, peaceful Europe.”

Zenon Zawada: Biden made Ukraine among his top foreign policy priorities with his frequent visits and telephone calls. And making this trip carried enormous symbolic value, given that it was his last as vice president. Yet, we can’t help but think that the involvement of his son Hunter in a Ukrainian natural gas trading firm played some role as well. The board of Burisma Holdings involves many well-connected Westerners and the company’s activity is concentrated in the Dnipro-Dones Basin, which is along Ukraine’s northeastern border with Russia. We think Biden reassured the Ukrainians of the reliability of the current Western support for this business venture, and they discussed how to prevent a possible Russian attempt to occupy this territory.