Notes from Ukraine, Day One: Wheels Down in Kyiv

Last night, I landed in Kyiv, Ukraine — a nation in transition.

This is the fifth time I’ve visited this region as Vice President.

And over the course of the next couple days, I’ll be meeting with Ukrainians who have stood up and actively participated in efforts to fix the country they love — reformers from the government, the Ukrainian legislature, and civil society.

I’ll have a long working lunch and a bilateral meeting with President Poroshenko. Then, I’ll have a long bilateral meeting with Prime Minister Yatsenyuk. I’ll speak before the Rada — the Ukrainian legislature. And I’ll get to meet with Mayor Klychko of Kyiv.

Vice President Joe Biden boards Air Force 2 on his way to Ukraine, at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland Dec. 6, 2015. (Official White House Photo by David Lienemann)

Technology has the remarkable ability to help us better see and understand the world around us.

And that’s why, over the course of this trip, I’m going to be checking in with you to share my reflections and impressions — to help shed some light on the reality on the ground in this nation I’ve come to know so well these past several years.

Let’s start right now.

This will be a short trip, but one that’s incredibly important to me. I want to tell you why.

I’ve been working in this particular part of the world for the better part of my career — as Chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee in the Senate, and as Vice President. I remember the fall of the Iron Curtain, when this country became an independent nation once again.

Vice President Joe Biden is briefed by Amos Hochstein, Special Envoy and Coordinator for International Energy Affairs for the State Department, aboard Air Force 2 on the way to Ukraine, Dec. 6, 2015. Also pictured are Carlyn Reichel, Kate Bedingfield, and Elissa Slotkin. (Official White House Photo by David Lienemann)

I have come to know the Ukrainian people and their decades-long hunger for freedom and opportunity.

I have seen the incredible sense of patriotism these people have in them.

Just about a decade ago, during the aftermath of a corrupt election, I watched with hope as thousands of Ukrainians gathered in Kyiv, protesting every day for months. Filling the Maidan, the city’s central square. Their peaceful demand was simple: That their voices be heard. That they be respected. We would come to know this as the Orange Revolution.

But that chance at a democratic revolution was squandered. The old problems came back: Widespread corruption. Public theft. Sweetheart deals for powerful oligarchs and entrenched interests.

Two years ago, the world watched as the Maidan filled with people again.

We were horrified to find that this time, the revolution would be bloody. More than a hundred civilian protesters would die at the hands of snipers and riot police.

We call them “the Heavenly Hundred.” And their courage helped buy this country a second chance at true independence.

Last year, Vice President Joe Biden, accompanied by Voice of America Journalist Myroslava Gongadze, lays flowers at a memorial to those who were killed during protests in Kyiv, Ukraine. (Official White House Photo by David Lienemann)

Once again, standing in the face of Russian aggression and widespread corruption, Ukraine has another — and what might be its last — historic opportunity to establish a true, free, economically prosperous democratic republic. One that can’t be bullied, bribed, or bought.

So long as the people of Ukraine continue to strive for freedom and democracy, they can count on the unwavering commitment of the United States to stand with them.

That’s where this stands. That is how high the stakes are for Ukraine.

And over the course of the next few days, as I meet with the leadership of this country and the legislature charged with building the policies that will shape this nation, I will be checking back in with you.

Thanks for following along.