Jill Biden visits Ukraine and meets Zelensky’s wife, Olena Zelenska
After nearly two hours in Ukraine, Biden’s motorcade returned to Slovakia.
The American first lady toured Eastern Europe to meet with American troops and Ukrainian refugees.
Earlier on Sunday, she met volunteers in Slovakia helping refugees and visited another school where children were making craft projects for Mother’s Day.
“The hearts of the American people are with the mothers of Ukraine,” Biden told those gathered.
The classroom was full of families whose husbands and fathers stayed to fight in Ukraine.
A woman told the Pool Reporter traveling with Biden that the first lady’s visit was encouraging.
“It means support for us,” the woman said. “We are very tired. This is emotional support for us.
A number of US officials have traveled to Ukraine in recent weeks to show solidarity, including Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi.
The visit to the beleaguered country on Sunday was also Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeauwho met Zelensky in kyiv, and U2 features Bono and Edge, which happened in a train station in the capital.
But Sunday also saw even more bloodshed in Ukraine after the bombardment of a school where civilians had taken refuge in the eastern village of Bilohorivka.
A regional official said up to 60 people were feared dead.
“We called out the Russians early on for committing war crimes, and that contributes to that,” said US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield. told CNN on the bombardment. “We will continue to work with Ukrainian prosecutors and others to document evidence of their war crimes so they can be held accountable. This just adds to the long list we already have.”