First lady Jill Biden made a surprise Mother's Day visit to Ukraine, White House confirms there are no plans for Joe to travel to Kyiv



First lady Jill Biden made a surprise visit to Ukraine this Sunday marking a rare solo as the spouse of a sitting president to visit an active war zone.

Fox News reported that the first lady entered Ukraine by crossing the border from Slovakia on Sunday morning after visiting with Ukrainian refugees at a processing center. Reportedly, she met with Ukrainian first lady Olen Zelenska. The Ukrainian first lady has not been seen in public since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Mrs. Biden said, “I wanted to come on Mother’s Day. I thought it was important to show the Ukrainian people that this war has to stop and this war has been brutal and that the people of the United States stand with the people of Ukraine.”

Zelenska praised her American counterpart for making a “courageous trip” which reportedly occurred as an impromptu stop on the U.S. first lady’s four-day trip to Eastern Europe without her husband.

The first ladies met in a small classroom in front of reporters before holding a private meeting. Zelenska and her children have reportedly remained in an undisclosed location due to safety concerns as Russian officials made it an early priority of their invasion to assassinate Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and members of his family.

The two women later joined a group of children who live at the school where they met in making tissue-paper bears to give as Mother’s Day gifts.

The first lady’s visit to Ukraine marks the third high profile meeting between U.S. and Ukrainian officials.

In late April U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin met with Zelenskyy to discuss the U.S. federal government’s role in providing the Ukrainian military with more than $300 million in financing. And in early May, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi along with the Democratic U.S. Reps. Jason Crow of Colorado, Jim McGovern of Massachusetts, Gregory Meeks of New York, and Adam Schiff of California met with Zelenskyy to show support for the Ukrainian government.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has also visited Ukraine and held a private meeting with Zelenskyy in the country’s capital city of Kyiv.

President Joe Biden has yet to visit Ukraine or host Zelenskyy.

Zelenskyy previously told CNN host Jake Tapper that he thought Biden ought t visit Ukraine because ‘’he is the leader of the United States, and that’s why he should come here to see.”

White House press secretary Jen Psaki, however, confirmed that there are no plans to send Biden to Ukraine.

She said, “No. No, we are not sending the president to Ukraine.”

Russia and China will hold talks about a future joint venture regarding the construction of lunar base



Russia and China plan to engage in a “detailed dialogue” about how to move forward with the construction of a base on the moon.

The Washington Examiner reported that Dmitry Rogozin, the chief executive of the Russian space agency Roscosmos, said, “Before the end of May, I plan to hold detailed dialogue with our Chinese colleagues on our cooperation in this direction.”

The expansion of Russia and China’s collaborative efforts in space indicate the strengthening of the two countries’ relationship as they continue to find themselves at odds with the U.S. and its Western allies.

In recent months, since Russian President Vladimir Putin launched his invasion of Ukraine, Russian and Western relations in space have deteriorated. In February, in response to Western sanctions on the Russian economy, the Russian government threatened to crash the International Space Station into the Earth by ceasing to provide the satellite with the propulsion technology and resources necessary to keep it in orbit. The saga concluded with the Russian government withdrawing its support from the International Space Station program so long as Western sanctions remained in place.

For years, even during the immediate aftermath of the Cold War, Russian cosmonauts and American astronauts worked side-by-side on the International Space Station, but the International Space Station serving as a symbol of geopolitical peace between a post-soviet Russia and the West may very well be at an end.

Despite this, Russia cosmonauts are currently still aboard the International Space Station and will continue conducting experiments on a timeline established by the Russian government.

Speaking with TASS, a state-owned Russian news agency, Rogozin said, “We should not hustle now declaring our stance and will carry on with our work within the timeframe set by the government, which is until 2024. A decision regarding the [International Space Station’s] future will depend to a great extent on the developing situation both in Russia and around it.”

A crew of European and American astronauts arrived at the International Space Station earlier this week as Russia cosmonauts conducted a spacewalk lasting 7 hours and 42 minutes. The Russia cosmonauts used the spacewalk as an opportunity to display the Soviet era “Victory Banner” that first flew in Berlin at the end of World War Two.

Dmitry Strugovets, a Roscosmos spokesman, said, “Cosmonaut Oleg Artemyev voiced an idea several days ago to spread the Victory Banner in the open space and wrote about it to the Roscosmos press office. His initiative was supported at all levels. No one remained indifferent.”

US releases convicted drug trafficker to Russia in swap for jailed marine



U.S. Marine veteran Trevor Reed was freed from prison in Moscow on Wednesday when the U.S. exchanged a convicted Russian drug trafficker for his freedom.

The New York Post reported that in a prepared statement, President Joe Biden said, “Today we welcome home Trevor Reed and celebrate his return to the family that missed him dearly. Trevor, a former U.S. Marine, is free from Russian detention.”

Biden shared his intention to free Reed with his parents, Joey and Paula, saying that he “heard in the voices of Trevor’s parents how much they’ve worried about his health and missed his presence.”

Biden said, “I’m grateful for the tireless and dedicated work of Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs Roger Carstens, U.S. Ambassador to the Russian Federation John Sullivan, and many others across our government to ensure that Trevor came home safely.”

He added, “The negotiations that allowed us to bring Trevor home required difficult decisions that I do not take lightly.”

Reed had been imprisoned in Russia since 2019. He was serving a nine-year sentence on charges stemming from an incident where he assaulted two Moscow police offers who were driving him to a police station the night after a party, at which he reportedly got blackout drunk.

A senior U.S. official and Russia’s foreign ministry confirmed that Reed’s release was negotiated as part of a collaborative prisoner exchange. The U.S. received Reed in exchange for giving Russia Konstantin Yaroshenko, a convicted Russian drug trafficker who was serving a 20-year prison sentence in Connecticut.

The swap is reported to have taken place in an unidentified European country, but a plane belonging to the Russian federal security service was seen flying to Ankara, Turkey, just hours before the exchange occurred.

In recent weeks, Reed’s parents had grown increasingly concerned over their son’s health, as he had begun a hunger strike to protest his treatment by Russian officials.

Reed’s father said, “Trevor had some injury where he thinks he might have broken a rib. Plus, he has all the symptoms of active tuberculosis. He went to a prison hospital for about 10 days, and they didn’t treat him.”

His father said that his son requested to remain in the hospital but was instead placed in solitary confinement, where he began to cough up blood and had “something protruding out of his side.”

The Reed family thanked Biden “for making the decision to bring Trevor home.”

Zelenskyy says he will continue pursuing peace despite atrocities committed by Russian forces



Despite the potential war crimes carried out by the Russian military on the people of Ukraine, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that he would continue to push for peace.

The New York Post reported that Zelenskyy said, “No one wants to negotiate with a person or people who tortured this nation. It’s all understandable. And as a man, as a father, I understand this very well.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin has been intensely condemned for possible war crimes carried out by the Russian military that were uncovered as its forces withdrew from the areas around Ukraine’s capital city of Kyiv.

As they regained ground in the areas surrounding Kyiv, Ukrainian forces uncovered mass graves filled with civilians in the suburbs surrounding the city. They also found surface streets littered with the corpses of civilians.

Many of the slaughtered civilians bore marks of torture and execution. Civilian bodies were found with their hands tied behind their backs, and many had seemingly fatal gunshot wounds at the base of their skulls.

Russian forces have also bombed civilian gathering places such as train stations and medical facilities.

Zelenskyy said, “We don’t want to lose opportunities, if we have them, for a diplomatic solution.”

He added, “We have to fight, but fight for life. You can’t fight for dust when there is nothing and no people. That’s why it is important to stop this war.”

The Russian forces that withdrew from Kyiv are currently believed to be regathering in preparation for an attack on Donbas in Ukraine’s eastern region.

Zelenskyy said that Ukrainian forces currently fighting their Russian counterparts in the eastern regions of Ukraine are in “the heart of the war.”

He said, “It’s beating. We’re fighting. We’re strong. And if it stops beating, we will be in a weaker position.”

Zelenskyy is reportedly frustrated with the lack of military equipment being supplied to Ukraine by the U.S. and its allies in Western Europe. He indicated that he was grateful for what had been done for his country but suggested that much more needed to be done by the wealthy nations allied with Ukraine.

He said, “Of course, it’s not enough,” when asked whether the supplies his country had been given up to this point was enough to turn the tide of the war in Ukraine’s favor.

Despite Zelenskyy’s insistence that he is actively working to make peace with his Russian adversaries, when presented with the opportunity to make peace in mid-March he rejected the offer.

Israeli leadership, serving as diplomatic emissaries, conveyed to Zelenskyy that if Ukraine were to alter its constitution in a way that permanently committed the country from joining NATO, recognized Crimea as Russian territory, and recognized Donetsk and Luhansk as independent states, then Russia would end its invasion of Ukraine.