War in Ukraine: How do world leaders such as Joe Biden make secret visits to war zones?

When US president Joe Biden turned up in Kyiv on Monday morning, it was a surprise to almost everyone – except, of course, Mr Biden himself and presumably his Ukrainian host.

On Saturday night, he had been spotted enjoying a quiet dinner with his wife in Washington DC. The next day, he covertly flew to Poland and hopped on a train to cross the border into Ukraine. When I say “hopped”, obviously, he probably didn’t arrive at the station and fervently pray his super saver fare allowed him onto the next passing locomotive, like the rest of us would.

Official visits from world leaders to a war zone have to be kept quiet for obvious reasons. If news of such a trip leaks, the Russian military could easily target an attack on an official train, plane or meeting place.

For Mr Biden’s visit, two handpicked journalists were allowed to travel with him – but reportedly had their mobile phones taken off them.

US President Joe Biden walks next to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv. Picture: AFP via Getty Images

The Polish train route, which takes more than seven hours, has been used by other US officials, including secretary of state Antony J Blinken, who visited Kyiv in September. Flying directly into Ukraine is considered far too risky amid regular missile strikes, while many world leaders have opted not to stay overnight in Ukraine, instead returning to Poland once official business is over.

Rishi Sunak’s visit to Kyiv, in November, was kept similarly under wraps, with pictures published by Ukrainian president Voloymyr Zelensky of the two of them together the first evidence he was there.

Boris Johnson made a regular habit of popping over to Kyiv during his time as PM, becoming one of the first world leaders to visit after war broke out and making several subsequent trips during his time in office. His most recent visit came last month where, now not a prime minister, but instead merely a Conservative MP, friend of Mr Zelensky and holder of the Citizen of Kyiv medal, he visited “at the invitation” of the Ukrainian president.

Of course, many world leaders – and many other US presidents – have had to travel to war zones. During the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, presidents George W Bush and Barack Obama both made covert visits to military bases in the countries, where their troops were serving. Here, however, there was strong military backup to protect the president. Not so in Kyiv.

In 2003, Mr Bush made a visit to US soldiers in Iraq to mark the Thanksgiving holiday. He kept the plan so tightly under wraps that even members of his Secret Service staff believed he was still at home at his ranch in Texas. Seven years later, Mr Obama made a similar trip to Kabul, Afghanistan, avoiding detection by leaving from Camp David.

In this case, it is not clear whether Russia was aware of Mr Biden’s arrival.

Joanna Szostek, an academic and Ukraine expert at Glasgow University, pointed to the fact that Russian officials – or pro-Russian commentators – had not made any remarks about Mr Biden’s visit, suggesting they had been taken by surprise.

"Biden's surprise visit to Kyiv seems to have left the Russian propagandists a bit stunned,” she tweeted on Monday morning. “Main Russian state sources don't seem to have much to say about it beyond ‘Biden is in Kyiv’. They're not even sniping and griping about it yet.”

If that was the case, then the White House security team has clearly done its job.