Biden visits Kyiv's Zelensky and calls Putin "dead wrong" on Ukrainian conflict.

(BBC) ⸻ President Joe Biden made an unannounced and symbolic visit to the capital, Kyiv, to reaffirm America's commitment to Ukraine's democracy, sovereignty, and territorial integrity. 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. 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. The US will also provide Kyiv with an extra $10m (£8.3m) in emergency assistance to keep Ukraine's energy infrastructure up and running. 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. Mr Zelensky said that the two leaders had discussed the possibility of sending other weapons that so far had not been supplied. President Biden's visit to Ukraine on Friday was a show of unity at a time when Russia says Western support for Ukraine is waning. The US notified Russia about the trip a few hours before President Biden's departure for "deconfliction purposes". White House officials said planning for the trip had been happening for "months", and that a final decision to travel was made on Friday. The visit was welcomed by Ukrainians in Kyiv, with air raid sirens wailing while President Biden and Mr Zelensky were in St Michael's Cathedral in central Kyiv. The US is one of Ukraine's biggest allies and has so far announced $24.9bn (£20.6bn) in military assistance, including 31 battle tanks and longer-range missiles. However, there is a growing political divide in the US over the amount of aid Kyiv should receive in future. President Biden's visit comes ahead of a three-day visit to Poland, where he will meet with the country's President, Andriy Yermak.