Report: U.S. considering sending high-level official to Kyiv

(Image credit: Sergei Supinsky/AFP via Getty Images)

published 14 April 2022

The United States is considering sending a high-level official to Ukraine in the near future, as a sign of solidarity with the country amid its war with Russia, a person with knowledge of the matter told The New York Times on Wednesday.

The official would go to Kyiv, Ukraine's capital. Since the start of the war, President Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, and Secretary of State Antony Blinken have visited neighboring countries, but no U.S. official has publicly entered Ukraine.

The person familiar with the matter told the Times that because of security concerns, it's highly unlikely Biden or Harris would make the high-risk trip to Kyiv. Instead, the idea of sending a Cabinet or senior military member, who would need a smaller security team, is being explored. Typically, when a senior U.S. official visits a war zone, it isn't announced until they arrive — and in the most sensitive cases, it isn't made public until they have left.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Explore More

Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

Subscribe to The Week

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox