American presidents have visited active war zones in the past, such as Iraq and Afghanistan during the decadeslong war on terror.
Still, President Biden’s surprise trip to Ukraine on Monday is the first in which the U.S. military presence on the ground is virtually nonexistent.
Not only does Ukraine lack a massive American military post like Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan, the U.S. diplomatic mission there is more low-key.
“The United States also has a very light embassy footprint compared to the massive operations in Afghanistan and Iraq during wartime visits by presidents to those places,” Deputy National Security Advisor Jonathan Finer said Monday during a telephone briefing about Mr. Biden’s trip.
The traveling party accompanying the president to Kyiv was kept to a minimum. It consisted of a handful of his closest aides, a small medical team, a White House photographer and the security detail, Mr. Finer said.
“This entire operation was done at a much smaller scale than previous such visits by presidents, just given the constraints of operating in Kyiv and in the rest of Ukraine during a conflict,” he said.
Mr. Biden made the final decision about a Ukraine trip on Friday following a final “go or no-go” meeting with his top White House staff.
The trip was “meticulously” planned over a period of months, involving several offices within the White House and a small number of staffers at the Pentagon and in the Secret Service. The intelligence community also provided ongoing threat assessments during the process, Mr. Finer said.
“Only a handful of people in each of these buildings was involved in the planning for operational security,” he said. “The president was fully briefed on each stage of the plan and any potential contingencies.”
The U.S. Embassy in Kyiv played a vital role as an intermediary between the Biden administration and Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelenskyy’s office. His government has become “quite adept” at hosting high-level visits from foreign dignitaries since Russia launched the invasion almost a year ago, Mr. Finer said.
“Although not one quite like this,” he added.