<p style="text-align: justify;"><b style="font-size: 1rem;">The US will back Ukraine in its fight against Russia for "as long as it takes" President Joe Biden said as he made an unannounced and symbolic visit to the capital, Kyiv.</b></p><div style="text-align: justify;">"We have every confidence you're going to continue to prevail," he said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Mr Biden's first trip to Ukraine as president came days before the first anniversary of Russia's invasion.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">He said President Putin had been "dead wrong" to think Russia could outlast Ukraine and its Western allies.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">He met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and the pair visited a memorial to soldiers who have died in the nine years since Russia annexed Crimea and its proxy forces captured parts of the eastern Donbas region.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Mr Biden's presence was intended to reaffirm America's "unwavering commitment to Ukraine's democracy, sovereignty, and territorial integrity", according to a White House statement.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The New York Times reported that he took a 10-hour train journey from Poland to reach Kyiv.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">He left Ukraine on Monday to travel to Poland.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">After the visit, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced a new package of security assistance for Ukraine valued at $450m (£373m), including ammunition for howitzers and the Himars rocket system, Javelin missiles, and air surveillance radars.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The US will also provide Kyiv with an extra $10m (£8.3m) in emergency assistance "to keep Ukraine's energy infrastructure up and running", Mr Blinken said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">A new wave of sanctions against individuals and companies "that are trying to evade or backfill Russia's war machine" will also be announced later this week.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Mr Zelensky said: "The results of this visit will surely be seen and will surely be reflected on the battlefield in liberating our territories."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In his nightly address on Monday, Mr Zelensky said it was a "symbolic day" that showed "how important Ukraine is to the world".</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">He also said that the two leaders had discussed the possibility of sending other weapons that so far had not been supplied.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Mr Zelensky has repeatedly called for F-16 fighter jets, something the US and other allies have so far stopped short of approving.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">National security adviser Jake Sullivan - who was among President Biden's entourage - said the US notified Russia about the trip a few hours before President Biden's departure for "deconfliction purposes".</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">He refused to comment on how Moscow had responded to the news.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">White House officials said planning for the trip had been happening for "months", and that a final decision to travel was made on Friday.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In a scene that added drama to the most high-profile visit to Ukraine since the war began, air raid sirens wailed while President Biden and Mr Zelensky were in St Michael's Cathedral in central Kyiv. The sirens sound regularly in Kyiv.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">While other world leaders have visited Ukraine over the past year, the US president's appearance in the capital during a war in which American soldiers aren't fighting is a show of unity at a time when Russia says Western support for Ukraine is waning.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The visit was welcomed by Ukrainians in Kyiv.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"I'm so grateful for his support - it means so much to us," Roksoliana Gera told the BBC.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"I appreciate his courage, that he took on this challenge and came to show the support of the American nation."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Oleksandra Soloviova said the visit was an "important sign for the whole world".</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"For Russia first of all, it shows the US supports us and will continue supporting us, with sanctions and military equipment," she said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Ukrainian president's chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, said that the visit had been strategic as well as historic. "Many issues are being solved and those that have stalled will be accelerated," he said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The US is one of Ukraine's biggest allies and has so far announced $24.9bn (£20.6bn) in military assistance, according to the US state department.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In January, Mr Biden announced that the US would send 31 battle tanks and longer-range missiles are also on their way.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">However, there is a growing political divide in the US over the amount of aid Kyiv should receive in future.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">President Biden's visit to Kyiv comes ahead of a three-day visit to Poland.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">There he will meet with the country's President, Andrzej Duda, and with Eastern European members of the Nato military alliance. BBC</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">bnbd24/kh</div>