image copyright EPA
The extraordinary measures taken to transfer Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky from Ukraine to the US capital demonstrate how important the relationship between the two countries is to both sides.
After visiting the front in eastern Ukraine on Tuesday, Zelensky’s trip to Washington DC began with an overnight train to Poland before boarding a US Air Force plane, backed by a NATO spy plane and F-15 fighter jet.
Reports of a visit to Washington began circulating earlier this week, but were not confirmed until early Wednesday morning, when US officials were certain the Ukrainian president was safely on his way to the US capital.
The visit was discussed for months but final preparations were made quickly, with the two presidents talking about it on December 11 and Zelensky being invited three days later. Once the visit is confirmed, start implementing the final plans.
No official information about the trip has been revealed. Security is tight around presidential visits even in times of peace, but for a warlord, the stakes are still higher.
And with the threat of Russian missiles making air travel over Ukraine perilous, Zelensky appears to have taken a secret train trip across Ukraine to Poland, where he was spotted early Wednesday at a railway station in the border town of Przemysl.
Pictures from Polish television showed a number of escorts accompanied by Zelensky walking along a train platform, with a blue and yellow Ukrainian train in the background. The group then boarded a number of waiting cars, including a black Chevrolet Suburban, the preferred model in cars for the US government.
Many Western leaders and officials traveled by train to visit Zelensky in Kyiv, but this was the first time he had traveled abroad since the start of the Russian war.
Shortly thereafter, flight data showed an Air Force Boeing C-40B believed to be carrying Zelensky taking off from Rzeszow Airport, about 80 kilometers to the west.
image copyright Reuters
The plane headed northwest towards Britain, but before it entered the airspace over the North Sea, a NATO spy plane surveyed the area. Russian submarines are known to patrol the area.
An American F-15 fighter jet, which took off from a base in England, accompanied Zelensky’s flight on part of its route.
Finally, around noon in Washington, after about 10 hours of takeoff and many more hours of travel for the Ukrainian president, the plane landed near Washington.
Upon his arrival, a team of secret services was assigned to protect him, as is the case for all visiting heads of state.
Senior security officials told ABC they were concerned something bad might happen to Zelensky during the visit.
“We are well aware that Russia has agents in this country and may try to do something,” a senior official told the network. “We know the risks,” he added.
The visit appears to have gone smoothly, but US security officials will not rest until Zelensky is safely back in Kyiv. “Putin and the Kremlin know he has to come home,” one official told ABC News.