First lady Jill Biden will visit with Ukrainian refugees in Romania and Slovakia over Mother’s Day, the White House announced Monday.
The first lady will travel to Romania on May 5, where she will meet with US service members at the Mihail Kogalniceanu Airbase, US Embassy staff and humanitarian aid workers as well as members of the Romanian government over the course of several days.
Biden, who has a long history in education and teaching, will also be meeting with educators who are teaching displaced Ukrainian children.
On Sunday, the first lady will spend Mother’s Day with Ukrainian refugees, humanitarian workers and locals supporting the displaced families in Slovakia.
Romania and Slovakia have taken in hundreds of thousands of refugees who have fled Ukraine. According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, more than 5.5 million people have evacuated the embattled country.
Biden is also scheduled to visit with members of the Slovakian government before traveling back to the US.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki emphasized that the focus of the trip is to reiterate the “US support for the work they’re doing on behalf of refugees, on behalf of supporting the Ukrainian people.”
“I think the significance of this should not be lost over Mother’s Day to really show this support,” Psaki continued. “And so the president is grateful for her willingness to do this and for the important role she’ll play in representing the United States during her visit to Europe and through these meetings.”
The trip to the region is Biden’s second solo trip aboard — after having attended the delayed 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo last year.
It follows multiple trips made by the administration and members of Congress to the region to emphasize the US’s support for Ukraine throughout Russia’s brutal invasion.
Most recently, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv. She was accompanied by a congressional delegation that included Reps. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) and Gregory Meeks (D-NY).
“We believe that we are visiting you to say thank you for your fight for freedom. We are on a frontier of freedom and your fight is a fight for everyone. Our commitment is to be there for you until the fight is done,” Pelosi said in a video following Sunday’s meeting.
Zelensky lauded the meeting, saying it is a “signal of strong support from the United States, the people, and Congress — bicameral and bipartisan support.”
“This shows that the United States today is a leader in strong support for Ukraine during the war against the aggression of the Russian Federation.”
Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin met with the Ukrainian president just one week before, announcing millions of dollars more in military aid for the Eastern European nation.
In March, President Biden also traveled to the region, meeting with US service members and Ukrainian refugees in Poland.
He is not scheduled to travel directly into Ukraine in the coming weeks.