John F. Kennedy said “Ich bin ein Berliner” when he visited Berlin in June 1963. Ronald Reagan said, “Mr. Gorbachev tear down that wall,” when he visited Berlin in June 1987. Now we have Joe Biden, who took a surprise trip to Ukraine on President’s Day and said: “One year later, Kyiv stands. And Ukraine stands. Democracy stands.”

Biden strolled the streets of Kyiv just days ahead of the one-year anniversary of Russia’s ruthless attack on Ukraine, The Daily Beast reports. The president paid his respects to Ukrainians who died while defending their country and said “Freedom is priceless. It’s worth fighting for, for as long as it takes.”

Then, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy standing by his side, he brought up the moving conversation the two men had last February as Russia escalated its nine-year-old war against Ukraine.

“You said you didn’t know when we’d be able to speak again,” Biden said. “That dark night…the world was literally bracing for the fall of Kyiv…perhaps even the end of Ukraine.”

David Rothkopf, who wrote the op-ed for The Daily Beast noted the symbolism of Biden and Zelenskyy, standing together and walking through the Ukrainian capital as air raid sirens sounded, “carried many other messages as well.”

“To those fighting for Ukraine, it was a vitally important message of solidarity that came with further commitments from Biden of military support for Ukraine.”

“To Vladimir Putin, it was Biden’s way of saying, “I am here in Kyiv and you are not. You not only did not take Kyiv in days as some predicted, but your attack was rebuffed. Your army suffered a humiliating defeat from which it has not recovered.”

And, in an official White House statement about his trip, Biden made sure to emphasize this, saying “Putin thought Ukraine was weak and the West was divided. He thought he could outlast us. But he was dead wrong.” During a recent visit by a Congressional delegation that attended the Munich Security Conference where it was made plain that bipartisan support for Ukraine is still strong in the U.S. and this underscored Biden’s comments.

U.S. President Joe Biden in Ukraine’s Kyiv. pic.twitter.com/6TlaTSh6wL

— Clash Report (@clashreport) February 20, 2023

The White House’s statement also noted that Biden’s surprise trip is part of a larger effort to demonstrate solidarity and leadership among America’s European allies. And he added, in the statement “I also look forward to traveling on to Poland to meet President Duda and the leaders of our Eastern Flank Allies, as well as deliver remarks on how the United States will continue to rally the world to support the people of Ukraine and the core values of human rights and dignity in the UN Charter that unites us worldwide.”

But Biden’s statement also sent a message to his predecessor, Donald Trump, even though the president never mentioned his name. Trump also visited parts of Eastern Europe, including in 2018 in Helsinki when he met with Putin.

Rothkopf notes:

“Biden went to Europe to send Putin a message of American and allied strength. Trump went to grovel before Putin. Biden stood up for American values and our allies. Trump said he trusted Putin more than America’s own intelligence and law enforcement services. Biden embodied America’s strength. Trump illustrated and represented our greatest weakness.”

But Trump continued to embarrass the U.S. by withholding aid to Ukraine “in an attempt to extort Zelenskyy into doing political dirty work against Biden to help Trump’s reelection efforts,” Rothkopf writes. “It was an illegal act that ultimately led to Trump’s first impeachment. At the same time and throughout the following year according to reports from Trump’s own top advisors, he was actively advocating to withdraw American troops from Europe.”

It is heartening to know that Ukraine continues to flourish even as this devastating war continues. While there are challenges ahead, Ukraine, supported by the U.S. isn’t having to deal with this on its own.