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IRS ends unannounced revenue officer visits to taxpayers; major change to end confusion, enhance safety as part of larger agency transformation efforts

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IR-2023-133, July 24, 2023

WASHINGTON — As part of a larger transformation effort, the Internal Revenue Service today announced a major policy change that will end most unannounced visits to taxpayers by agency revenue officers to reduce public confusion and enhance overall safety measures for taxpayers and employees.

The change reverses a decades-long practice by IRS revenue officers, the unarmed agency employees whose duties include visiting households and businesses to help taxpayers resolve their account balances by collecting unpaid taxes and unfiled tax returns. Effective immediately, unannounced visits will end except in a few unique circumstances and will be replaced with mailed letters to schedule meetings.

IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel announced the change as part of a larger effort to transform IRS operations following passage of the Inflation Reduction Act last year and the creation of the new IRS Strategic Operating Plan in April.

"We are taking a fresh look at how the IRS operates to better serve taxpayers and the nation, and making this change is a common-sense step," Werfel said. "Changing this long-standing procedure will increase confidence in our tax administration work and improve overall safety for taxpayers and IRS employees."

The National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) supports the policy change.

"NTEU welcomes the IRS decision to halt unannounced visits by IRS Field Collection employees," said Tony Reardon, National President of the National Treasury Employees Union "The safety of IRS employees is of paramount importance and this decision will help protect those whose jobs have only grown more dangerous in recent years because of false, inflammatory rhetoric about the agency and its workforce. We applaud Commissioner Werfel's quick action after hearing the safety concerns raised by NTEU leaders and IRS Field Collection employees who faced dangerous situations that put their safety at risk. We look forward to working with the IRS on this and other actions to protect the safety of all IRS employees."

Werfel also noted that there have been increased security concerns in recent years on multiple fronts. The growth in scam artists bombarding taxpayers has increased confusion about home visits by IRS revenue officers. Sometimes scam artists appear at the door posing as IRS agents, creating confusion for not just the taxpayers living there but local law-enforcement.

For IRS revenue officers, these unannounced visits to homes and businesses presented risks. Revenue officers routinely faced hazards and uncertainty making unannounced visits to attempt to resolve delinquent tax matters.

"These visits created extra anxiety for taxpayers already wary of potential scam artists," Werfel said. "At the same time, the uncertainty around what IRS employees faced when visiting these homes created stress for them as well. This is the right thing to do and the right time to end it."

The change reflects the ongoing evolution of tax administration work taking place. Werfel noted that funding under the Inflation Reduction Act will add more staffing for compliance work. The IRS continues to focus on key areas, such as high-income taxpayers with tax issues, as efforts continue on transforming the IRS. Improved analytics will also help IRS compliance efforts focus on those with the most serious tax issues.

"We have the tools we need to successfully collect revenue without adding stress with unannounced visits," Werfel said. "The only losers with this change in policy are scammers posing as the IRS."

Taxpayers can expect appointment letters; limited situations where unannounced visits will occur

In place of the unannounced visits, revenue officers will instead make contact with taxpayers through an appointment letter, known as a 725-B, and schedule a follow-up meeting. This will help taxpayers feel more prepared when it is time to meet.

Taxpayers whose cases are assigned to a revenue officer will now be able to schedule face-to-face meetings at a set place and time, with the necessary information and documents in hand to reach resolution of their cases more quickly and eliminate the burden of multiple future meetings.

The IRS noted there will still be extremely limited situations where unannounced visits will occur. These rare instances include service of summonses and subpoenas; and also sensitive enforcement activities involving seizure of assets, especially those at risk of being placed beyond the reach of the government. To put this in perspective, these types of situations typically number less than a few hundred each year – a small fraction compared to the tens of thousands of unannounced visits that typically occurred annually under the old policy.

The IRS will be updating IRS.gov and internal guidance in the months ahead. The agency also reminds taxpayers with unpaid tax bills that there are several options available to help them with their balance due.

These changes come as part of the IRS Strategic Operating Plan, which was unveiled in April. With 10-year funding available from last year's Inflation Reduction Act, the IRS has set in motion an effort to transform the agency to improve taxpayer service, add fairness to tax compliance efforts and modernize technology to better serve taxpayers, tax professionals and the nation.

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How to Deal With Unannounced Visits From Family

As a family, your daily routine is crucial to your survival. One small thing can throw the babies sleep routine off, or their eating habits.

Or, let’s say you don’t even have children yet and are planning to become pregnant. Maybe you’re pregnant already. The dynamic of your family’s flow cycle is incredibly important.

When it comes to having a significant other, you’re bound to be presented with…let’s call it…the elephant in the room. Unexpected visits and random drop-in are from family.

How are we to deal with unexpected visits from family – kindly, politely – and without investing too much stress conversations behind the scenes with your partner?

The goal is to have a positive and supportive conversation for each person involved in the situation before it becomes toxic.

In this article

What Are the Toxic Feelings We Generate From Unexpected Visits?

Research various scenarios if you haven’t already, from this point on make it positive move forward, put yourself in their shoes, have a common goal, take the time, try saying this if it continues, don’t drop what you’re doing to accommodate unexpected guests.

First thing’s first, we need to know how we feel inside thoroughly. My belief of having gone through this situation personally is that this is the first and most important step to handling the situation with the least amount of conflict.

Once your in-laws, siblings, aunts, or uncles have left from their unexpected visit, it’s your job to reflect, even if as much as you just wish it’d stop and they would take hints.

This should be a purely personal time for you to take into consideration which aspects of the unexpected visits you dislike.

This makes it a lot easier to remove the useless conversations that can indeed lead to conflict in the home behind closed doors. Which is what we are ultimately trying to do in the first place. Less drama the better. 

What Is Your Belief System Behind Proper Visiting Etiquette?

Get a firm grip on your belief system, where you stand, and the most important topics you’d like to speak out loud regarding the unexpected visits to each person directly.

You’ll find that having these conversations with family members takes work, and you have to prepare in a sense what you are bringing to the table.

That way, if anyone says something rude, feels offended, or removes themselves from the conversation entirely. You can feel confident that you have backed yourself up, to have a healthy take regarding the situation.

It turns out if you’re here reading this you are already on the right path. You’re researching and investing your valuable time in the matter. Props to you! Now let’s piece together positive healthy ways for everyone to work through unexpected visits.

Have a Conversation with your Significant Other First

Your partner might feel a whole lot different than you do when it comes to family dropping by unexpectedly. And the last thing you want is for you to be on page 2 while they’re over on page 40. It won’t turn out good for anyone. 

Oftentimes when issues like unexpected drop-ins arise…there have already been conflicting conversations or at least feelings of resentment formed with those around us. We’ll call this the family stew, everyone’s been throwing a few their own seasonings in. They’ve been dropping, you’ve been reacting, maybe you’ve mentioned it to your parent. You might have even already had an outburst regarding the matter outwardly to everyone.

No matter where you’re at in the cycle of correcting the issue’s at hand, it’s okay. The fact that you are still supportive of your family members enough to work out a better system proves that you love them and care in itself.

It’s wise to have a conversation with your partner after you have your own take on the matter. You can say thing’s like; 

“I know that I’ve displayed this kind of reaction or behavior to the circumstance, but, I really would like you to know how you and I each feel about unexpected visits from so-and-so.”

This gives a good introduction to open the situation in a more positive and lighter tone. I know when my husband and I first got married and felt completely different about how my family would frequently drop-in.

He and I felt polar opposite regarding it, and I had no idea he felt so intensely about it until we had an actual conversation about it, better yet, five or more conversations about it.

Once we did though, we stopped arguing over it. We were able to accept and respect how the other person felt and come to a more common ground. After that, we presented it to our family members together.

Be Prepared to Explain your Feelings Slightly In-Depth

If your family feels strongly about it being okay to drop-in anytime, and you haven’t introduced your opposing views to them, They might be totally caught off guard by your opposition.

The tricky piece that we all miss in these situations is being able to step into the other person’s shoes. Some people are raised that it’s okay to drop-in unexpectedly or that your family’s space is just as much your space.

The person dropping in might not even realize that he or she has thrown a bunch of cayenne pepper into the stew and your feeling the effects of it.

This is why it’s important to understand that it’s more probable no one has intentionally tried to overstep your boundaries and that you just will have to let them know bluntly how you feel.

You have your reasons. They are valid. The more clear you can be with others about these terms, the better. No beating around the bush, go ahead and express what you need to.

Listen to what they have to say about it, and make it about positively working together forward.

It can be hard to explain how you feel to your significant other’s parents or siblings. It’s your partner’s job to help you out here. It makes sense for them to approach the issue even if it’s just over a text.

The goal here is to get the message out in the first place.

You can say something like: “I love that you visit our family so often, but sometimes when you come by unexpectedly, I’m quite busy with other things and would appreciate if you ask us beforehand if it’s a suitable time for visiting.” 

Approach It Before They Drop-In For Their Next Visit

At this point, your visitors have proven that they’ll stop by without notice which probably makes you on edge that they will do it again.

You’re right. They are likely to do it again and continue doing it unless you express your stance on unexpected visiting them.

One key factor in eliminating the issue is speaking up about it. You don’t have to feel bad. Visiting with them for a certain amount of time when it is actually a good time is healthy for everyone involved.

When visits are planned, you can ensure your house is clean, your energy levels are optimal for a visit, or that you aren’t in the middle of personal business in your home.

Take the time to make a phone call, text, or speak-in-person with your visitors when you haven’t been caught off guard with a visit you knew nothing about.

By bringing light to the problem of unexpected visits inflict on your routine, makes it easy for them to digest what you have to say.

If they continue to drop by without notice you can say something along the lines of:

“Hi, it’s good to see you. I thought I made it clear the other day, over the phone that I would really appreciate you giving me a heads-up that you want to visit. I’m right in the middle of dinner. Now isn’t the best time.”

The natural course of action for guests invited into your home is to host and accommodate them. This is the fun of having guests come over.

Well, that’s why it’s just so awkward when it comes to visitors who are uninvited. We don’t want to feel rude for not being a pleasant host, l eaving us with a crummy feeling if we don’t drop what we are doing on the spot with offerings to them.

Even though you’ll have the urge to stop watching your movie, put dinner on hold, or wait to put your kids to sleep for the night, it is important that your guests see you aren’t going to just stop in your tracks to visit with them.

Try mentioning kindly to them that you’re always happy to see them, but now isn’t a good time for them to stop by, and you’d wished they had contacted you beforehand for better planning.

There aren’t too many people out there who like to have unexpected visits to their own homes. This does make you wonder why it is so difficult to get past this type of situation when you are offering subtle hints.

It’s possible that it’s due to the heat of the moment that your family feels it’s extremely important to visit you on the spot.

Each person has their own reasons, but it’s likely even those people wouldn’t want random visits to their front door without notice. This issue can be difficult to confront.

It often goes on for far too long, causing unnecessary arguments, bad days, and feelings of guilt for not having open arms at all times to our relatives.

Overcoming this in a healthy constructive manner with all parties involved is important.

Manners Monday: How To Handle Drop-in Guests

Should You Drop Everything for Drop-in Guests?

Carolyn Hax: When I showed up unannounced, my daughter-in-law burst into tears

When the In-laws Drop by Unannounced

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Further Guidance on the Use of Unannounced Visits in the Child and Care Food Program

Background  This memorandum is intended to provide regional offices with information to share with state agencies concerning the use of unannounced monitoring visits to child and adult care facilities in the CACFP. As you know, the Management Improvement Guidance for Family Day Care Homes and the Management Improvement Guidance for Child Care Centers (issued in 1997 and 1998, respectively) recommend that sponsoring organizations make at least one unannounced visit per year to their sponsored facilities. This memorandum addresses frequently asked questions about the recommended procedures for making unannounced visits.

Current requirements governing state agency review of institutions are located at section 226.6(l) of the CACFP regulations, while those which apply to sponsoring organization review of facilities (sponsored child and adult care centers or family day care homes) can be found at section 226.16(d). Although the regulations do not specify whether these reviews should be announced or unannounced, some state agencies and a growing number of sponsoring organizations are making some or all of their institution or facility visits unannounced, especially in cases where program irregularities are suspected.

The USDA Office of Inspector General's (OIG's) national audit of the family child care component of CACFP in 1995 found that most routine sponsor monitoring visits to day care homes were announced in advance, and that sponsors often make formal appointments to visit their day care homes. The audit found that few serious program irregularities were detected when sponsoring organization visits to homes were announced in advance, and that unannounced visits were especially effective in identifying certain types of program abuse, especially over-claiming of meals or the claiming of reimbursement for non-existent meal services or children.

If we wish to require that a specific number of reviews be unannounced, it will be necessary for us to issue a proposed rule and take public comment on it, which we plan to do in the near future. However, in the meantime, we wish to stress that state agencies and sponsoring organizations that are not already doing so should begin the use of unannounced visits as soon as possible. Before instituting unannounced visits, we advise state agencies to ensure that their use is not prohibited by state law.

We are issuing this memorandum to encourage the broader, immediate use of unannounced visits by both state agencies and sponsoring organizations. The procedural recommendations for implementing unannounced visits which are discussed in the questions and answers which follow should not deter any state agency or sponsoring organization from immediately implementing this important management tool for detection of program fraud and mismanagement. We strongly believe that unannounced visits to child and adult care institutions and facilities can play an important role in improving program management and integrity, and that such reviews can be conducted in a manner that meets the varied needs of State agencies, child and adult care sponsors, their facilities, and the children and adults they serve.

Should a sponsoring organization make all of its reviews unannounced? Although some sponsors currently make all of their required monitoring visits unannounced, others find that it is not feasible to do so. Some sponsors use facility visits as opportunities to conduct on-site training on program management and/or nutrition education. Making all reviews unannounced would diminish the sponsor's ability to provide on-site training, especially to family day care home providers who would not have the chance to arrange for additional help during the period of the review/training visit. Thus, if a sponsor wishes to make all three of its annual required reviews of a facility unannounced, and still wishes to conduct some training on-site, they might wish to consider scheduling an additional visit for the purpose of providing on-site training and technical assistance.

Are unannounced reviews effective, especially since the provider might not be at home when the unannounced visit is made? We are not convinced that such visits would be ineffective simply because a provider was not at home when the sponsor made an unannounced visit. In fact, a provider's unexplained absence could indicate a potentially serious accountability problem which the sponsor needs to address. We also believe that, when serious problems (e.g., an unexplained absence when the provider is expected to be providing care) are uncovered in an unannounced visit, the next review of that facility should be unannounced as well.

In order to minimize the possibility of a provider not being at home when an unannounced visit is made, we suggest that the sponsoring organization or the state agency make unannounced visits during approved meal service times and that they institute a policy requiring a provider to notify the sponsor when planning to provide care or a meal service away from their home (e.g., a field trip). In addition, many sponsors and state agencies using unannounced visits have established other policies which underscore the need for providers to keep their sponsors informed of such circumstances, such as disallowing meals served away from home on the day of review when the provider failed to give notice of their intent to provide care out of the home.

What procedures should be followed when making an unannounced facility visit? In recognition of the unique nature of providing day care (especially in one's private residence) and in order to protect the privacy of program operators and the children or adults in care, we believe that the following procedures should be used by any state agency or sponsoring organization making an unannounced visit:

• In order to provide sponsoring organizations and sponsored facilities with formal notice of this monitoring procedure, state-sponsor agreements should be amended to specify that unannounced facility visits may be made. Institution/facility agreements should be amended to specify that unannounced visits may be made at any time during the facility's normal hours of operation, and that meal disallowances may be taken when providers fail to notify their sponsoring organization that they will be away from home during a meal service. In instances where only the state agency elects to perform unannounced visits of facilities, the state agency should require the sponsoring organization to notify facilities that unannounced reviews may be made.
• Unannounced visits should only be made during the facility's normal operating hours (i.e., if shift care is provided, an unannounced visit can be made during any shift); and
• Monitors should have and show photo identification which proves them to be employees of the state agency or sponsoring organization making the unannounced visit.

In addition, prior to instituting unannounced facility visits, it is suggested that the sponsoring organization or the state agency issue a notice to all sponsored facilities stating that unannounced visits would soon begin to be made, and restating relevant program requirements, such as:

• All family day care home providers are required to take daily meal counts (section 226.18(e)), meaning that unrecorded meals prior to the day of review may not be reimbursed;
• Providers are required to keep records of enrollment, attendance, and meals served (sections 226.18(b)(4)-(5) and (e)), and such records must be accessible on-site during a review; and

Child care centers, outside-school-hours care centers, and adult day care centers are required to keep records of enrollment, attendance, and meals served (sections 226.17(b)(4), (b)(7) and (b)(8); 226.19(b)(8); and 226.19a(b)(6), (b)(8) and (b)(9)), and such records must be accessible on-site during a review.

Will state agencies have greater difficulty than sponsors in making unannounced visits to facilities? When a state agency makes unannounced facility visits as part of its review of a sponsoring organization, it could experience greater difficulty than a sponsor would in conducting the same visit. This stems from the fact that state agencies:

• Are often located farther away from the facility than the sponsor (thus increasing the potential cost of unannounced visits to the state agency);
• Are required, as part of a review of a sponsor, to make only a limited number of facility reviews; and
• Lack an ongoing administrative relationship with individual sponsored child and adult care facilities.

Nevertheless, the audit and investigative work conducted by OIG strongly suggests the need for some level of unannounced facility visits by state agencies as well, since those sponsors which pay inadequate attention to accountability issues are unlikely to employ unannounced visits and uncover serious program irregularities at their sponsored facilities. Therefore, we recommend that state agencies conduct some unannounced facility visits as part of their review of a sponsoring organization, or when they have reason to suspect program irregularities at a particular facility.

Should state agencies make unannounced visits to institutions? When a state agency has reason to believe that an institution is having difficulty managing the program, or is involved in program irregularities, we recommend that an unannounced visit be made to determine the scope and nature of the institution's problems. A state agency utilizing unannounced visits to institutions should follow the same procedures as those described above relating to unannounced visits to facilities by a sponsor or state agency.

STANLEY C. GARNETT Director Child Nutrition Division

The contents of this guidance document do not have the force and effect of law and are not meant to bind the public in any way. This document is intended only to provide clarity to the public regarding existing requirements under the law or agency policies.

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Watch CBS News

"A very close-held operation": How Biden made his unannounced visit to Ukraine

By Nancy Cordes , Caitlin Yilek

February 20, 2023 / 7:47 PM EST / CBS News

Sneaking the leader of the free world into an active war zone in Ukraine isn't easy. 

It took months of secret planning by a handful of officials from the Pentagon, Secret Service, intelligence community and White House. Amanda Sloat, a top adviser to President Biden on European affairs, told CBS News that "an incredibly small team" was involved in the planning. 

"It was a very close-held operation, and I think everybody wanting to do everything they could to get the president there and back safely," Sloat said. 

Here's how they did it:

Before dawn on Sunday, Mr. Biden and his team boarded an Air Force plane that had its shades drawn and sat in a dark hanger at Joint Base Andrews. Instead of flying on the usual 747, Mr. Biden flew on a smaller C-32. The plane's call sign was changed from "Air Force One" to "Special Air Mission 60." 

The group traveling with Mr. Biden was also kept to a minimum and sworn to secrecy. Instead of the larger group of press that travels with the president, two journalists were allowed to document the trip — Wall Street Journal reporter Sabrina Siddiqui and Associated Press photographer Evan Vucci. 

The plane stopped briefly in Germany — still with its shades down — to refuel before the aircraft's transponder was turned off for the next flight to a Polish airbase near the Ukraine border. 

From there, Mr. Biden, his aides, security apparatus and the press drove about an hour to Przemyśl Główny train station, located near the border of Poland and Ukraine. The motorcade of at least 20 vehicles did not use sirens — as the president's motorcade usually does — to avoid drawing attention to itself. 

The motorcade pulled up to a train that also had its shades mostly drawn and the occupants boarded for a 10-hour journey to Kyiv. Along the way, the train stopped a handful of times, at least once to pick up more security. All the while, U.S. surveillance flights kept watch from Polish airspace. 

A couple of hours before Mr. Biden arrived in Kyiv, the U.S. gave Russia a heads up in a brief and "very straightforward way" through a " deconfliction channel ," Sloat said. 

The train pulled into the Kyiv-Pasazhyrsky station after sunrise Monday. U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Bridget Brink awaited Mr. Biden and his staff on the platform. 

"It's good to be back in Kyiv," Mr. Biden said after stepping off the train. 

Mr. Biden was then ushered away in another motorcade to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. He spent about six hours in Kyiv before heading to the train station for the 10-hour journey back to Poland . 

• White House
• Volodymyr Zelenskyy

Nancy Cordes is CBS News' chief White House correspondent based in Washington, D.C. Cordes has won numerous awards for her reporting, including multiple Emmys, Edward R. Murrow awards, and an Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Award.

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Biden Says ‘The World Stands With You’ in Surprise Visit to Ukraine

• By VOA News

U.S. President Joe Biden made an unannounced visit Monday to Ukraine, days ahead of the one-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion, saying he was there to “show our support for the nation’s independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity.”

Speaking alongside Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at Mariinsky Palace in Kyiv, Biden announced $500 million in new U.S. aid, including artillery ammunition and anti-tank weapons. He also said there would be new U.S. sanctions against Russia this week but made no mention of the advanced weaponry, including fighter jets, that Zelenskyy is seeking from the United States and its Western allies.

“One year later, Kyiv stands. And Ukraine stands. Democracy stands,” Biden said. “The Americans stand with you and the world stands with you.”

Biden Makes Surprise Kyiv Visit Ahead of Invasion Anniversary

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Biden spoke about bringing together a coalition of more than 50 countries to help Ukraine’s military, and uniting leading economies to impose “unprecedented costs” on Russia’s economy.

“Putin thought Ukraine was weak and the West was divided,” Biden said. “He thought he could outlast us. I don’t think he’s thinking that right now.”

Zelenskyy thanked Biden for coming at a huge moment for Ukraine, and said he looked forward to discussing the battlefield situation with the U.S. leader.

Air raid sirens were heard in Kyiv and elsewhere in Ukraine as Biden visited, including as he and Zelenskyy visited a cathedral in the capital.

Biden and Zelenskyy also laid a wreath at a memorial wall dedicated to fallen heroes from the conflict.

In Photos: Biden Makes Unannounced Visit to Ukraine

Biden was already scheduled to travel to the region, but the official White House schedule said he was not due to leave Washington until late Monday with Poland as his destination.

The trip to Ukraine was shrouded in secrecy, which included Biden’s flight from Washington, a stopover at a U.S. military base in Germany, another flight to Poland and then a 10-hour train trip to Kyiv.

Latest Developments in Ukraine: Feb. 20

In all, Biden was in Kyiv for about five hours, spending part of his time meeting with U.S. officials at the American Embassy.

U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan said later that the U.S. had alerted Moscow ahead of Biden’s departure from Washington about the planned Ukrainian visit, “for deconfliction purposes" to avoid the possibility of an unintended lethal encounter between the two nuclear powers. Unlike some previous presidential visits to war zones in years past, the U.S. does not control the airspace over Ukraine, although U.S. warplanes monitored the Biden visit from the sky over Poland.

Sullivan described Biden’s visit to Kyiv as historic, saying it was “unprecedented in modern times, to have the president of the United States visit the capital of a country at war where the United States military does not control the critical infrastructure.”

Sullivan said that despite the need to surmount logistical issues for the trip, “President Biden felt that it was important to make this trip because of the critical juncture that we find ourselves as we approach the one-year anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.”

With the visit, he added, Biden wanted to send “a clear, unmistakable message of enduring American support for Ukraine. A clear unmistakable message of the unity of the West and the international community and standing behind Ukraine and standing up to Russian aggression.”

The official White House schedule released Sunday included remarks from Biden Tuesday in Warsaw describing U.S. efforts to rally support for Ukraine and containing a pledge to continue to stand with the Ukrainian people.

VOA's Myroslava Gongadze reports from Warsaw:

Biden to Speak in Poland on US Efforts to Support Ukraine

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Biden was also due to meet with NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg and leaders of the Bucharest Nine group of countries before departing for Washington on Wednesday. These are the countries on NATO’s easternmost flank.

Members of Biden's administration have visited Ukraine during the past year to meet with officials and show U.S. support, including Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.

Biden's wife, Jill, made an unannounced stop in Ukraine in May on Mother’s Day.

US First Lady Jill Biden Makes Surprise Stop in Ukraine 

Zelenskyy's first known wartime trip outside of his country was to the United States in December. Recently, he visited London, Paris and Brussels to meet with Western leaders.

The United States and European Union warned Monday of unspecified consequences should China provide lethal aid for Russian forces fighting in Ukraine.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told reporters there would be “real consequences” in U.S.-China relations and that he had shared the U.S. concerns directly with top Chinese foreign policy official Wang Yi.

“I think China understands what’s at risk were it to proceed with providing that support to Russia,” Blinken said.

He added that many other countries would take such military aid from China to Russia very seriously.

Blinken: China May Consider Providing Lethal Assistance to Russia

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Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said at a briefing Monday that the United States is not in a position to make demands of China, and that China’s relations with Russia are based on “non-alignment, non-confrontation and non-targeting of third parties.”

"It is the United States and not China that is endlessly shipping weapons to the battlefield,” Wang Wenbin said.

European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell told reporters in Brussels that he had also discussed the situation with Wang Yi and asked him not to provide arms to Russia.

Borrell said such Chinese aid “would be a red line in our relationship.”

He spoke ahead of a meeting of EU foreign ministers and said Ukraine’s most urgent need is ammunition. Borrell said the ministers would discuss how to more quickly provide arms, especially ammunition, to Ukrainian forces.

Some information for this story came from Agence France-Presse and Reuters.

The Voice of America provides news and information in more than 40 languages to an estimated weekly audience of over 326 million people. Stories with the VOA News byline are the work of multiple VOA journalists and may contain information from wire service reports.

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Biden makes surprise Ukraine visit, signaling strong US support in fight against Russia

President Joe Biden is in Europe to meet with NATO allies in Poland.

LONDON and KYIV -- President Joe Biden on Monday made an unannounced visit to war-torn Ukraine, arriving in Kyiv as the United States signals its ongoing support ahead of the anniversary of Russia's invasion.

Biden planned to meet for extended discussions with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and other officials, he said in a statement . He also planned to announced delivery of "critical equipment, including artillery ammunition, anti-armor systems, and air surveillance radars."

Biden's arrival in Kyiv -- a city the Ukrainians successfully defended early in the war -- was marked by an increased security presence, with downtown blocks brought to a standstill by police and military vehicles. He was also met with air raid sirens, a near constant sound in a city where civilians have often been targeted by Russian President Vladimir Putin's missiles.

"When Putin launched his invasion nearly one year ago, he thought Ukraine was weak and the West was divided," Biden said in a statement. "He thought he could outlast us. But he was dead wrong."

He said the visit reaffirmed that the United States has "unwavering and unflagging commitment to Ukraine's democracy, sovereignty and territorial integrity."

Biden administration officials later briefed reporters on some aspects of how the trip came together . They stressed that it was the president's call to take a strategic risk to show support for Ukraine once he believed that the security threat was manageable.

And while the officials remained tight-lipped about the precise details required to manage the trip, including Biden's mode of transportation in and out of the country, they did say that the U.S. informed Russia of the visit shortly before Biden left for Ukraine.

"We did notify the Russians that President Biden would be traveling to Kyiv. We did so some hours before his departure for deconfliction purposes," Jake Sullivan, the national security adviser to the president, told reporters on Monday morning in a press briefing.

Biden's visit comes ahead of a planned meeting with NATO allies in Poland. He's scheduled on Tuesday evening to give a speech at the Royal Castle Arcades in Warsaw.

His remarks in Poland are expected to offer an appraisal of international support during the first year of the war, White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement earlier this month. He'll also address "how we will continue to stand with the people of Ukraine for as long as it takes," she said.

MORE: Russia-Ukraine live updates: Biden in Kyiv says Putin was 'dead wrong'

Biden's also plans to meet in Poland with leaders of the Bucharest Nine, a group of eastern NATO allies formed in 2015 in response to Russia's annexation of Crimea.

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Ukrainian officials had accused Russia of planning "large-scale nuclear exercises" to coincide with Biden's European visit.

Biden's surprise visit comes two months after Zelenskyy's December address to Congress in Washington. That marked Zelenskyy's first known international trip since the invasion began in February 2022.

The Ukrainian leader had sought further U.S. aid for the fight against Russia, telling lawmakers that they could "speed up our victory."

"Your money is not charity. It's an investment in the global security and democracy that we handle in the most responsible way," Zelesnkyy said at the time.

Biden in January approved additional military aid to Ukraine, including sending 31 Abrams tanks . Those weapons would help Ukraine "achieve its strategic objectives," Biden said.

Rep. Nancy Pelosi as House speaker had led a group of U.S. lawmakers on a similarly unannounced visit to Kyiv, the capital, in May 2022.

"Our delegation traveled to Kyiv to send an unmistakable and resounding message to the entire world: America stands firmly with Ukraine," she said in a statement at the time.

ABC News' Justin Fishel, Jonathan Greenberger, Cheyenne Haslett, Lauren Minore and Molly Nagle contributed to this report.

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US defense secretary makes unannounced visit to USS Gerald R Ford aircraft carrier defending Israel

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, left, talks with the commanding officer of the USS Gerald R. Ford, Navy Capt. Rick Burgess, during an unannounced visit to the ship on Wednesday, Dec. 20, 2023. The USS Gerald R. Ford has been sailing just a few hundred miles off the coast of Israel to prevent the Israel-Hamas war from expanding into a regional conflict. (AP Photo/Tara Copp)

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, front left, walks next to the commanding officer of the USS Gerald R. Ford, Navy Capt. Rick Burgess, front, during an unannounced visit to the ship on Wednesday, Dec. 20, 2023. The USS Gerald R. Ford has been sailing just a few hundred miles off the coast of Israel to prevent the Israel-Hamas war from expanding into a regional conflict. (AP Photo/Tara Copp)

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, left, talks wto crew members of the USS Gerald R. Ford during an unannounced visit to the ship on Wednesday, Dec. 20, 2023. The USS Gerald R. Ford has been sailing just a few hundred miles off the coast of Israel to prevent the Israel-Hamas war from expanding into a regional conflict. (AP Photo/Tara Copp)

The crew of the USS Gerald R. Ford has put up decorations throughout the ship, including this electric fireplace display on Wednesday, Dec. 20, 2023. The crew of the USS Gerald R. Ford was supposed to be home before Thanksgiving - but the risk that the Israel-Hamas war will spill over into a regional conflict has kept the ship at sea and the sailors deployed will miss the holidays at home. (AP Photo/Tara Copp)

The crew of the USS Gerald R. Ford has put up decorations throughout the ship, including this hangar bay on Wednesday, Dec. 20, 2023. The crew of the USS Gerald R. Ford was supposed to be home before Thanksgiving - but the risk that the Israel-Hamas war will spill over into a regional conflict has kept the ship at sea and the sailors deployed will miss the holidays at home. (AP Photo/Tara Copp)

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, second right, talks with the commanding officer of the USS Gerald R. Ford, Navy Capt. Rick Burgess, right, during an unannounced visit to the ship on Wednesday, Dec. 20, 2023. The USS Gerald R. Ford has been sailing just a few hundred miles off the coast of Israel to prevent the Israel-Hamas war from expanding into a regional conflict. (AP Photo/Tara Copp)

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ABOARD THE USS GERALD R. FORD (AP) — U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin flew out to the USS Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier Wednesday to meet with the sailors he has ordered to remain at sea to prevent the Israel-Hamas war from spilling over into a deadlier regional conflict.

Austin was in the region to press Israel to shift its bombardment of Gaza to a more limited campaign and more quickly transition to address Palestinian civilians’ dire humanitarian needs.

At the same time, the U.S. has been concerned that Israel will launch a similar military operation along its northern border with Lebanon to expel Hezbollah militants there, potentially opening a second front and widening the war.

At a news conference in Tel Aviv on Monday, Austin didn’t say whether U.S. troops might be further extended to defend Israel if its campaign expands into Lebanon, and Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant seemed to tone down recent rhetoric that a northern front was imminent, deferring to diplomatic efforts first.

Still, that leaves incredible uncertainty for the Ford and its crew, which Austin ordered to the Eastern Mediterranean to be closer to Israel the day after Hamas militants stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7. The aircraft carrier’s more than 4,000 sailors and the accompanying warships were supposed to be home in early November.

Using the public address system of the Ford, which is sailing a few hundred miles off the coast of Israel, Austin thanked the sailors and their families for giving up spending the holidays together because of the mission.

“Sometimes our greatest achievements are the bad things we stop from happening,” Austin told the crew. “In a moment of huge tension in the region, you all have been the linchpin of preventing a wider regional conflict.”

The defense secretary met with a group of sailors in the Ford’s hangar bay to talk about the various dangers in the region that the carrier, the destroyers and the cruisers deployed along with it have been watching.

He thanked them for keeping attention on cross-border fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, and later told reporters traveling with him that if Israel transitions away from major combat operations in Gaza, it could possibly ease some of the regional tension that has kept the Ford in place.

The Ford’s commanding officer, Navy Capt. Rick Burgess, said one of the Ford’s main contributions has been to stay close enough to Israel that it can send its aircraft in to provide support, if needed. While the Ford’s fighter and surveillance aircraft are not contributing to the surveillance needs of Israel’s operations in Gaza, other ships in its strike group are, Burgess said.

The Ford is one of two U.S. carrier strike groups bracketing the conflict. The other, the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower, has recently patrolled near the Gulf of Aden, at the mouth of the Red Sea waterway where so many commercial vessels have come under attack in recent weeks.

Iranian-backed Houthis in nearby Yemen have vowed to continue striking commercial vessels transiting the Red Sea with ballistic missiles and drones until Israel ceases its devastating bombardment of Gaza, which has now killed more than 19,000 Palestinians.

To counter the ship attacks, Austin announced a new international maritime mission Tuesday to get countries to send their warships and other assets to the southern Red Sea , to protect the roughly 400 commercial vessels that transit the waterway daily.

Since it left Norfolk in the first week of May, the Ford’s fighter aircraft and surveillance planes have conducted more than 8,000 missions. The crew, Austin noted, has been moving at full speed — consuming more than 100,000 Monster energy drinks and 155,000 Red Bulls along the way.

Joe Biden visits Kyiv, announces $500m in military aid

The unannounced trip, days ahead of first anniversary of the war, underscores ‘unwavering’ commitment Ukraine, US says.

United States President Joe Biden has made an unannounced visit to Kyiv, days before the first anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine .

Biden’s trip on Monday was the first to Ukraine since Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered his troops into the neighbouring country on February 24, 2022.

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Air raid sirens rang out as he met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the Ukrainian capital, but there were no major attacks.

The visit was to “reaffirm our unwavering and unflagging commitment to Ukraine’s democracy, sovereignty, and territorial integrity”, a White House statement said.

“When Putin launched his invasion nearly one year ago, he thought Ukraine was weak and the West was divided. He thought he could outlast us. But he was dead wrong,” the statement quoted Biden as saying.

As we approach the anniversary of Russia’s brutal invasion of Ukraine, I'm in Kyiv today to meet with President Zelenskyy and reaffirm our unwavering commitment to Ukraine’s democracy, sovereignty, and territorial integrity. — President Biden (@POTUS) February 20, 2023

“Later this week, we will announce additional sanctions against elites and companies that are trying to evade or backfill Russia’s war machine,” the statement added.

Biden said the US would provide Ukraine with additional assistance worth $500m that will include artillery ammunition, anti-armour systems and air surveillance radars. He also promised further sanctions against Russia.

‘Important sign’

Zelenskyy, who in December 2022 travelled to Washington, DC and addressed US Congress on his first trip abroad since the war began, wrote on Telegram that Biden’s visit was an “extremely important sign of support for all Ukrainians”.

The Ukrainian leader said he and Biden spoke about “long-range weapons and the weapons that may still be supplied to Ukraine even though it wasn’t supplied before”, but did not detail any new commitments.

Al Jazeera’s Hoda Abdel-Hamid, reporting from Kyiv, said the US president’s trip will be “very well received” by Ukrainians.

“[Russian] President Vladimir Putin is scheduled to give a speech tomorrow,” Abdel-Hamid said.

“People here are talking about a new offensive … a new buildup on the border in Russia and Belarus. So, certainly having the [US] president here pledging support, pledging weapons will make the Ukrainians feel that they can go ahead with this.”

The trip allowed Biden to witness the damage that the Russian invasion has caused in Ukraine.

Thousands of Ukrainian troops and civilians have been killed in the past year, while millions have fled the fighting into neighbouring countries.

Meanwhile, Sergei Markov, a Russian political scientist and former spokesman of Putin, claimed that Moscow had guaranteed Biden’s safety during the trip.

“Joe Biden came to Kyiv only with personal guarantee for security from Vladimir Putin, that there will be no rocket and aviation strikes … during the visit,” Markov said.

Al Jazeera was unable to verify his claim.

Markov added the timing of the trip was significant as it comes before Putin’s state-of-the-nation address on Tuesday and days before the first anniversary of the invasion on Friday.

But he argued that Biden had a lot to gain from the visit, in terms of domestic politics.

“Leaders inside the [US] Democratic Party believe he’s not physically and mentally able” to carry out presidential duties, Markov said, adding that the trip was a “big victory” for Biden against his political opponents.

Other Western leaders, including German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, French President Emmanuel Macron and UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, have also visited Kyiv in the past year.

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On Surprise Visit to Ukraine, Blinken Reassures Zelensky of U.S. Support

The trip came amid Russian military gains in Ukraine’s northeast. The Biden administration had warned for months that Congress’s delay in approving an aid package would leave the Ukrainians vulnerable.

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By Michael Crowley

Reporting from Kyiv, Ukraine

Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken met with President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine in Kyiv on Tuesday, assuring him that American military aid is on its way at a “challenging time” for the country’s war effort against Russia.

The meeting was Mr. Blinken’s first since his morning arrival in Kyiv, and came under the shadow of Russian military gains in the country’s northeast. In an ornate conference room at his presidential offices on Bankova Street, Mr. Zelensky said that Mr. Blinken had come during “a tough period for the east of our country.”

The Ukrainian leader profusely thanked Mr. Blinken for the “crucial” $60.8 billion aid package for his country that President Biden signed last month after months of infighting among congressional Republicans. But Mr. Zelensky quickly added that Ukraine was still in need, pointing to the Russian military advances around the northeastern city of Kharkiv in recent days. Russian forces captured another village, Lukiantsi, overnight and bombed the city of Kharkiv on Tuesday morning, injuring four people.

Calling air defense a “deficit for us,” Mr. Zelensky said, “We really need it today, two Patriots for Kharkiv.” The Patriot is a U.S.-made surface-to-air missile system.

Mr. Blinken did not specifically respond to that request, but he told Mr. Zelensky that incoming American aid — some of which he said had already arrived — would “make a real difference on the battlefield.”

The unannounced visit was Mr. Blinken’s fourth to Ukraine’s capital since Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022. Mr. Blinken, who arrived on an overnight train from Poland, plans to deliver a speech later on Tuesday celebrating the influx of American aid and portraying Russia’s failed effort to take control of the country as a strategic success for Ukraine, according to a senior U.S. official.

Mr. Blinken will also underscore that Ukraine must continue to make progress on democratic governance and anticorruption reforms if it wants to integrate with the West, the official said.

Mr. Biden and Mr. Blinken had warned for months that Congress’s delay in approving critically needed U.S. arms would leave Ukraine’s military vulnerable along an eastern battlefront that has been stalemated for months. The U.S. official declined to draw a direct connection between the delayed aid and Russia’s gains near the city of Kharkiv. But the official said it was clear that the gap in funding had left Ukraine, whose military is starved for ammunition and other critical equipment, weakened.

The official said that Ukrainian forces had held their positions and were exacting a toll on the Russians, and that they were likely to make gains as U.S. assistance flows into the country.

Mr. Blinken and Mr. Zelensky have developed a personal rapport over numerous meetings in Europe and the United States in the past several years. The secretary of state, who visited Kyiv twice in the year before Russia’s full-scale invasion, is known there as one of Washington’s leading champions of strong Western support for Ukraine.

“I know you did a lot for this positive decision,” Mr. Zelensky told Mr. Blinken of the new aid package, for which the secretary of state had lobbied vigorously.

“We’ve traveled a long road together these past couple of years,” Mr. Blinken said, before the men began the private portion of their meeting.

A second senior U.S. official would not say whether Russia had been notified in advance of Mr. Blinken’s visit. Russian forces have frequently attacked Kyiv with missiles and drones.

Mr. Blinken is the first senior Biden official to visit Ukraine since the passage of the congressional aid package. The White House national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, met with Mr. Zelensky in Kyiv in late March, before the package passed.

Speaking at an event hosted by The Financial Times this month, Mr. Sullivan said that he expected Russia to make some short-term gains, but that the new U.S. aid would allow Ukraine to “hold the line” and eventually begin recapturing territory.

Maria Varenikova contributed reporting.

Michael Crowley covers the State Department and U.S. foreign policy for The Times. He has reported from nearly three dozen countries and often travels with the secretary of state. More about Michael Crowley

Brooks Jensen Shocks Fans with Unannounced Indie Wrestling Show Visit Amid NXT Strife

A gainst the backdrop of recent troubles within WWE NXT, wrestler Brooks Jensen has taken a surprising step by showing up at an independent wrestling gathering. On June 8, amid NXT internal conflicts, Jensen emerged unexpectedly at a small-scale wrestling event. His unannounced participation comes at a time when he has been openly unhappy with how WWE has been managing his career.

Tuesday’s NXT taping saw Jensen being expelled from the venue after a behind-the-scenes altercation involving announcers Vic Joseph and Booker T. Not one to be subdued, Jensen took matters into his own hands and appeared at the non-WWE sponsored Bowdon High School Gym event by the Bull Pen Professional Wrestling organization in Georgia. Prior to his surprise visit, he teased his intentions, sparking curiosity with a cryptic tweet: “Am I working you now?”

The wrestling community was abuzz as word of Jensen’s indie appearance spread. Fans shared their astonishment and intrigue online, with Twitter user @Lilytimeee exclaiming , “OMG OMG OMG BROOKS JENSEN IS AT MY HOMETOWN SHOW!!!! WHAT DOES THIS MEAN SHAWN!!!!”—implicitly involving @WWENXT, @ShawnMichaels, and Jensen in the conversation and sparking widespread speculation.

This unusual step by Jensen has left many pondering whether it signals a deeper meaning for his career’s direction. Is Jensen teasing a major shift, possibly even an “IMPACT”? Such a move could indicate a possible jump to a different wrestling promotion or it might be a calculated escalation in his current WWE storyline.

Speculation is rife within the wrestling fanbase as everyone tries to decipher Brooks Jensen’s intentions. What will be his next course of action in this burgeoning, unpredictable path?

We invite readers to share their thoughts and speculations regarding Jensen’s bold move. Could it be a sign of Jensen’s impending departure to another promotion, or is there a larger plot unfolding within WWE’s narrative? Engage with us in the comments section below with your predictions and theories!

FAQs about Brooks Jensen’s Surprise Indie Wrestling Event Appearance

• Why did Brooks Jensen appear at an independent wrestling event? The precise motivations behind Brooks Jensen’s unannounced arrival at the indie wrestling event are unconfirmed. However, it seems to be a statement against his current booking in WWE, where he has expressed dissatisfaction.
• What event did Brooks Jensen attend? Brooks Jensen appeared at an independent wrestling show hosted by Bull Pen Professional Wrestling, which took place at Bowdon High School Gym in Georgia.
• Was Brooks Jensen’s appearance at the indie event planned? There has been no indication that Brooks Jensen’s appearance was pre-arranged, indicating that it was a spontaneous decision on his part.
• Has WWE commented on Brooks Jensen’s appearance at the indie wrestling event? As of the knowledge cutoff date, WWE has not made any public statements regarding Brooks Jensen’s appearance at the indie wrestling event.
• Is Brooks Jensen leaving WWE NXT? The definitive answer to whether Brooks Jensen is leaving WWE NXT is unknown. His attendance at an indie event has ignited speculation about his future, but without official confirmation, it remains conjecture.
• What was the reaction to Brooks Jensen showing up at the indie event? Fan reactions varied from shock to excitement, spawning discussions and theories about the implications of his appearance for his wrestling career.

In surprise Ukraine visit, Blinken declares vision for Kyiv’s victory

In the first high-level U.S. trip since Congress approved a major aid package, the top diplomat pushes for reforms he says will help bolster Ukraine against Russia.

KYIV — Ukraine’s friends are committed to helping it fortify and prevail against Russia’s full-scale invasion, Secretary of State Antony Blinken declared in a speech in Ukraine’s capital Tuesday, vowing to aid in the Kremlin’s defeat even as Kyiv faces deepening questions about its ability to hold off an assault threatening its front lines.

In an unusually sweeping address for the chief U.S. diplomat, Blinken called for a long-term plan to further enhance the country’s war machine so it would be better able to resist the Kremlin on its own, and for anti-corruption efforts and other reforms that Ukraine has struggled with ever since it broke from the Soviet Union in 1991.

Blinken’s unannounced two-day trip was the first high-level visit by a Biden administration official since Congress last month approved a $61 billion aid package for Ukraine after seven months of obstruction by some Republicans. The visit was intended as a show of solidarity as the Pentagon speeds delivery of air defenses, artillery and other combat equipment in a bid to stabilize Kyiv’s military — and as Ukraine contends with the possibility that it may never regain all the territory it has lost to Russia.

U.S. officials have conceded that Ukraine’s sizable challenges mean it may not regain a battlefield advantage before 2025 at the earliest, fueling fears among Ukrainian officials that they could be pushed into negotiating with Russian President Vladimir Putin while he has the upper hand.

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“The coming weeks and months will demand a great deal of Ukrainians, who have already sacrificed so much. But I have come to Ukraine with a message: You are not alone,” Blinken said in a speech delivered to senior officials and students in an ornate hall inside the Kyiv Polytechnic Institute.

“Americans understand that our support for Ukraine strengthens the security of the United States and our allies. They understand that if Putin achieves his goals here in Ukraine, he won’t stop with Ukraine. He’ll keep going,” he said.

The speech came after a day of meetings in the capital, including with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. The Biden administration has been eager to display Washington’s continued support for the country after congressional inaction choked off U.S. assistance and weakened Ukraine’s ability to repel renewed Russian attacks.

Russia’s military capacity has proved resilient. Former president Donald Trump , meanwhile, has been much more equivocal about helping Ukraine than President Biden , and Trump is running strong in U.S. election polls . So the reassurances from the top U.S. diplomat that Washington remains a reliable supporter were likely to have sounded different from the last time he was here, in September, as Ukraine was just starting to wind down a hotly anticipated counteroffensive that ultimately failed to recapture much ground.

Blinken said the Biden administration hoped to build up Ukraine’s military, its military industry and its industrial base so the country’s defense has a sharper bite and its economy is more robust. To succeed, he said, will require major continued reform efforts to beat back corruption . Ukraine must also open up key parts of the economy, such as the energy sector, to more competition, he said.

“Winning on the battlefield will prevent Ukraine from becoming part of Russia. Winning the war against corruption will keep Ukraine from becoming like Russia,” Blinken said.

Blinken tacitly acknowledged the political challenges in Washington of approving further aid packages.

“The American people want to know that we have a plan for getting to the day when Ukraine can stand strongly on its own feet militarily, economically, democratically, so that America’s support can transition to more sustainable levels,” he said. “Our goal is to lay a foundation so strong that it dispels any doubts about Ukraine’s ability to impose punishing costs on those who try to take its territory.”

Ukraine also faces a continued struggle inside the United States, where House Republicans who held up aid for months continue to question the long-term strategy and Ukraine’s chances for success.

In the end, the aid passed the House with a large majority, but with fewer than half of Republicans in support. Trump has sent mixed messages about his policies but has declared that if he returns to the White House, he would end the war in 24 hours .

Blinken has also been largely preoccupied elsewhere in recent months, focusing on the Middle East since the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel and Israel’s subsequent military operation in Gaza. While lower-level trips to Ukraine have continued, Blinken has visited the Middle East seven times since the fall, a measure of the degree to which regional diplomacy there is now consuming his days. By contrast, he has traveled to Kyiv four times since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.

On Tuesday, he sought to reassure Ukrainians that Washington remained with them, reaching into history to speak of Taras Shevchenko, a Ukrainian national hero who helped foster the country’s identity in the 19th century and sought to distinguish it from Russia.

“For decades, Putin has caused unspeakable grief for the people of Ukraine. He’s inflicted every kind of degradation and harshness. And yet like Shevchenko before you, what is inside Ukrainians, that has not changed,” Blinken said. “The spirit of Ukrainians cannot be destroyed by a bomb or buried in a mass grave. It cannot be bought with a bribe or repressed with a threat. It is pure. It is unbreakable. And it is why Ukraine will succeed.”

In their meeting at the heavily fortified presidential offices in central Kyiv, Zelensky declared his “big appreciation” for the U.S. aid. But he also said Ukraine’s needs remained urgent and immediate. “Air defense [is] the biggest deficit for us,” he told Blinken.

“Really, we need today two Patriots for Kharkiv,” he said, referring to the advanced U.S.-made antimissile system. “There are people under attack, civilians and warriors.”

Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, is so close to the Russian border — leaving so little response time to airstrikes — that some military experts question how useful the expensive Patriot system would be there.

Ukrainians have also chafed at White House restrictions that they not use U.S. equipment to strike inside Russian territory, something they say is a disadvantage as they fight an invading force.

Russia’s military planners have proved adaptable and have used glide bombs and other munitions to exhaust Kyiv’s antiaircraft defenses, destroy its energy infrastructure and pound its front lines. Ukraine has needed to reinforce its defenses, including its trenches and its minefields, as Russian forces have advanced this spring. Kyiv is also facing a major shortage of trained soldiers , a problem that has no quick fix.

Ukraine’s challenges have been on display this week near Kharkiv. Russian forces have been pressing forward , forcing the evacuation of many front-line towns.

Military analysts and officials say those troops do not appear numerous enough to capture Kharkiv and that the tactic may be designed to pull Ukrainian troops from elsewhere on the front, stretching and weakening its defenses.

“At this stage of the war, Russia has the strategic initiative and holds the material advantage. But it is not necessarily decisive. Much depends on what happens in the coming months,” said Michael Kofman, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

“The recently passed supplemental is not a magic wand. It cannot instantly resolve the issues that the Ukrainian military currently is facing, which go well beyond shortages of ammunition,” he said.

Still, U.S. officials say they are moving as quickly as they can. Since April 24, they have announced $1.4 billion in aid for Ukraine using the presidential drawdown authority, the fastest-moving type of assistance. The Biden administration last month also announced an additional $6 billion in slower-moving military assistance that it aims to use by the end of the year. And in coming weeks, the White House plans to finalize a long-term memorandum of understanding with the Ukrainians that would guarantee security assistance for the next decade.

U.S. diplomats and military strategists want to help Ukraine reinforce its defenses this year, planning no major counteroffensives, unlike the one last year that fizzled. Instead, they say, they hope Ukraine can hold its defensive lines, replenish its ranks, keep the Black Sea open for commercial shipping and tie up Russia’s military assets in Crimea so they are less of a threat.

If Kyiv can rebuild the strength of its military, Ukraine will be in a better position next year, U.S. officials and analysts say.

“I’m not saying victory is inevitable,” said Daniel Fried, a retired senior State Department official who is a fellow at the Atlantic Council. “But there is a reasonable scenario.”

Russian warships, including nuclear sub, missile frigate, will arrive in Cuba next week

Three Russian Navy ships and a nuclear-powered submarine will arrive at the Port of Havana for an official visit next week, the Cuban armed forces said in a statement Thursday, confirming the military exercises first disclosed by U.S. officials on Wednesday.

The Cuban Revolutionary Armed Forces said the Russian missile frigate Admiral Gorshkov, the nuclear sub Kazan, the oil tanker Pashin and the salvage tug Nikolai Chiker will arrive on June 12 and stay for a week.

The Cuban military said the visit by the Russian Navy ships is part of the “friendly” relations between the two countries, complies with international law and does not pose a security threat to the region because “none of the ships carry nuclear weapons.”

A U.S. official told McClatchy and the Miami Herald on Wednesday that the exercises are expected to include “heightened naval and air activity near the United States,” involving both Russian aircraft and combat naval vessels – the first coordinated air and sea exercise by Russia in the Western Hemisphere in five years.

“While we are disappointed that Cuba has likely agreed to host visiting Russian ships, we are not surprised,” the official said Thursday. While one of the ships is a nuclear-powered submarine, the official said that the U.S. intelligence community “assesses it is not carrying nuclear weapons, and poses no direct threat to the national security of the United States.”

Administration officials suspect that Cuba approved the Russian port call “at least in part” over an incident last year in which a U.S. nuclear submarine docked at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, angering the Cubans, the U.S. official said.

“We are not surprised by it given Russia’s long history of Cuban port calls,” the official said. “These are routine naval visits that are part of Russian military exercises, which have ratcheted up because of U.S. support to Ukraine and exercise activity in support of our NATO allies.”

The warships are part of the Russian Navy Northern fleet and departed on May 17 on “a long voyage... to demonstrate the Russian flag and ensure naval presence in important areas of the distant oceanic zone,” the Russian government news agency Tass reported Thursday.

According to the Tass report, the Admiral Gorshkov frigate held an artillery fire exercise at an air target in the Atlantic Ocean. The ship “fired AK-192M artillery complex and Palash antiaircraft missiles at an imitated air target,” the report says.

The warship joined the Navy in 2018 and was updated to carry hypersonic Zircon cruise missiles, a new complex and expensive missile recently developed by Russia.

The Kazan submarine also joined the fleet recently in 2021 and can carry long-range precision missiles capable of destroying land, sea and underwater targets, Tass reported in April.

The Cuban government did not mention military exercises in its statement but highlighted “cultural” activities.

“During their stay, the Russian sailors will carry out a program of activities that includes courtesy visits to the Chief of the Revolutionary War Navy and the Governor of Havana. They will also visit places of historical and cultural interest.”

According to the U.S. Navy Institute, Russian submarines have been visiting Cuban ports since 1969. Russian spy ships have been spotted unannounced at the port of Havana on several occasions, including ahead of Russia’s invasion of Crimea in 2014, days before U.S.-Cuba talks in Havana in 2015 and on March 2018. The Russian navy’s training class ship Perekop sailed into Havana in July last year.

This story was originally published June 6, 2024, 12:26 PM.

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As Joe Biden marks D-Day anniversary, he faces a world again embroiled in conflict

President joe biden was influenced by the events of world war ii – from pearl harbor to normandy. they have shaped his role as a statesman..

PARIS − The war that engulfed Europe had already been raging for three years when Joe Biden was born on Nov. 20, 1942.

The kid from Scranton, Pennsylvania, was just a baby when Allied forces descended upon France by air, land and sea in an extraordinary demonstration of military might.

Before it was over, the United States would send more than 16 million of its men – roughly a third of those eligible for combat – to fight the Nazis, build the world’s top arms supply and liberate concentration camps where millions of Jews were facing utter extermination.

Biden and other people of his generation would grow up hearing stories of the brave men who had fought and faced death on the other side of the Atlantic. People like his uncle Ambrose J. Finnegan, who disappeared somewhere off the north coast of New Guinea.

All in the name of freedom.

Prep for the polls: See who is running for president and compare where they stand on key issues in our Voter Guide

For the rest of his life, Biden’s view of the world and the United States would be shaped by the events of World War II and by the heroism of the men and women who were part of what is now known as “the Greatest Generation.”

For him and other Americans of a certain age, World War II served as a collective moral compass and defined what the nation could – and should – be. America’s role in the war is so deeply ingrained in the public psyche that it is still celebrated in books, on film and at events like this week’s ceremonies in France marking the 80th anniversary of D-Day.

“We’re all products of our environment − we’re products of how we were raised,” said former Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, who served alongside Biden in the Senate. “President Biden is no different from the rest of us. His perceptions of the world and in particular foreign affairs – government and the responsibilities of leadership – were very much honed by a post-World War II Europe.”

But nearly eight decades after the war ended, those beliefs are again under attack by forces abroad and at home.

Ukraine is fighting for survival after it was invaded by Russia in the largest incursion of a European country since World War II. Israel, formed after the war to establish a homeland for the Jewish people, is engaged in a deadly conflict with the Palestinian militant group Hamas. And in the United States, the most basic tenet of democracy – the free election – is under assault by supporters of former President Donald Trump, who falsely claims the race he lost to Biden in 2020 was rigged against him.

Biden will offer more than reflections on a war that ended eight decades ago when he heads to Normandy on Thursday. He is expected to double down on his support of NATO and again insist the U.S. and its allies are strongest when they stand together, like they did 80 years ago. But maybe even more significant is what he will say about the future.

The man with a political career spanning five decades – and who has served as senator, vice president and president – will stand on the hallowed ground where more than 9,000 of the nation’s fallen soldiers forever rest and urge Americans to again meet the moment.

He will issue a call to action.

'An incredible education'

The war in Europe taught Biden that the world was big and small.

Big in the sense that things like war often unfolded in lands that seemed so far away. Small in the sense that what happened on the other side of the ocean could still hit close to home.

“He grew up at a kitchen table in Scranton with parents who really instilled in him tremendous respect for members of the military and a profound understanding of the sacrifices made by men and women of our armed forces,” said Jeff Peck, who was an aide to Biden through several phases of his political career.

In 1973, Biden entered Congress as a senator from Delaware. Just two years later, he landed a slot on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, a rare position for someone who was still considered a freshman legislator.

Just 33 at the time, Biden had little foreign policy experience. Even so, he was already getting to know world leaders and issues, not only in Europe, but in other countries as well, he wrote in his 2007 memoir, “Promises To Keep: On Life and Politics.”

Before joining the committee, Biden had traveled to Europe in 1974 with Sen. Hubert Humphrey, a Minnesota Democrat who had been the party’s presidential nominee. On that trip, he met British and European parliamentarians who would go on to become leaders of their own countries.

His work would take him abroad many other times through the years and would result in meetings with other foreign leaders, such as Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir and Xi Jinping of China, who now is the country’s president.

“He got an incredible education,” said Ted Kaufman, who was Biden’s chief of staff when he was in the Senate.

Biden has often told the story about an eye-opening encounter with Meir, who grew up in Milwaukee, worked to help establish the Jewish state after the war and later led her country through a turbulent period in the early 1970s. Biden has called the meeting “one of the most consequential” he has ever had. It took place in Israel, about five weeks before the 1973 Yom Kippur War between Israel and a coalition of Arab states led by Egypt and Syria.

Though Biden has told variations of the story, most of the key details have been consistent. As they sat in Meir’s office, Biden recalled during another trip to Tel Aviv last October, Israel’s first and only female prime minister flipped through maps and painted a dark picture of the security situation in the Middle East. Later, after they walked out of her office and posed for photographers, Meir remarked that Biden looked worried.

“Don’t worry, senator, we Israelis have a secret weapon,” Biden recalled her saying. “We have nowhere else to go.”

The remark was a revelation for Biden, who has always been keenly interested in history. On his early trips overseas, Kaufman said, Biden always took along history books. Spending time with foreign leaders greatly affected his views about foreign policy, “not just about his experience with history and what he knows about it, but what he has learned about history and learned about the personalities,” Kaufman said.

Hagel, who later served on the committee and traveled the world with Biden, recalled that Biden took a similar approach whenever they went overseas. Whether they were heading to Iraq, Turkey, Afghanistan or somewhere else, Biden would spend hours prepping, Hagel said.

During committee meetings or briefings, Biden would remain in the room long after all other committee members had departed, Hagel said. He would sometimes question a witness for three or four hours. “He wasn’t beating up on a witness – he never did that,” Hagel said. “He was very respectful. But he wanted to learn more every time.”

Biden, who would remain on the committee for years and later serve as its chairman, was an incessant note taker, Hagel said. “He took notes all the time, on everything,” he said. “I never saw another senator do it quite like that. … He didn’t leave it up to one of his top assistants. He did it.”

'A very dangerous world'

 Inside the paneled walls of the White House situation room, the nation’s top political and military leaders deliberated over what to do about Afghanistan.

The United States had been at war with al-Qaida in Afghanistan’s rugged, mountainous terrain for over a decade after the group’s 9/11 attacks on New York City and Washington. Gathered for the meeting on the West Wing ground floor were President Barack Obama, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Michael Mullen, CIA Director Leon Panetta – and Biden, who was now vice president.

The discussion, which Panetta said happened in 2010 or 2011, eventually turned to whether the U.S. should boost its troop presence in Afghanistan. Biden spoke up. The most effective way to go after the enemy, Panetta remembers him saying, would be to target al-Qaida’s leaders.

“That resonated with a lot of people,” Panetta recalled. “It certainly resonated with me because I was involved in leading that effort.”

Biden’s response demonstrated his ability to get to the heart of complicated issues and help others see things more clearly, Panetta said. In almost every national security meeting he attended, Panetta said, Biden was often the voice that reminded everyone of America’s history and what it had been through.

“He could speak to that,” Panetta said, “because he lived it – the role the United State has played in terms of world policy.”

Biden would always remind people that, in the end, the United States had to be a leader “and had to work with our allies closely to make sure we were providing the kind of leadership essential to deal with the adversaries we were confronting.”

It was a lesson learned from World War II – and one that still resonates today. 

“We’re living in a very dangerous world, with a lot of flash points,” Panetta said. “Probably more flash points than I've seen since World War II. From Russia, China, North Korea, Iran – from terrorism. And to deal with that kind of world requires that the United States be a world leader. If the United States isn't a world leader, nobody else will be.”

'Global peace, security and prosperity'

A flag-waving crowd of thousands gathered in the gardens of Warsaw’s Royal Castle, which had once served as home of Polish monarchs. The palace, in ruins after the Nazis bombed and destroyed it during World War II, had been meticulously rebuilt decades later and turned into a state museum.

On this day, Feb. 21, 2023, Biden, now president, had chosen the castle gardens to rally NATO allies in defense of Ukraine just days ahead of the one-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion. A day earlier, he had made an unannounced trip to Kyiv and promised to stand with Ukraine for as long as it takes.

Back in Warsaw, Biden warned that Russia’s invasion had amounted to a test for the entire world. But the U.S.-led coalition of allies that had banded together to back Ukraine had stood firm and would continue to stand guard over freedom, he said, because the “appetites of the autocrat cannot be appeased. They must be opposed.”

It was a line that could easily have been delivered in 1943.

Growing up after the war, Biden is acutely aware of the parallels between what happened eight decades ago in Europe and what is happening today in Ukraine, Peck said. Adolf Hitler’s desire to make Nazism the dominant form of government around the world is eerily similar to what Russian President Vladimir Putin is trying to do in Ukraine, he said.

“It was a coalition of allies that defeated the Germans, and it’s a coalition of allies that’s standing firm with Ukraine to defeat Putin,” Peck said. “Joe Biden understands both ends of that historical spectrum.”

Jon Finer, one of Biden’s top national security advisers at the White House, said Biden remains a firm believer in the system put in place after the war to maintain international peace. Biden believes organizations like NATO have demonstrated they are “a force for security and prosperity of the wider world” and have “stood the test of time,” Finer said.

“This president is one who starts from the perspective that this stuff is fundamentally important to global peace, security and prosperity,” Finer said. At the same time, in an era when technology and the world are in a state of rapid change, Biden believes “institutions have to evolve to seize that moment” and be prepared “to deal with the challenges of today, not just the challenges of yesterday.”

Back home, Biden is facing challenges on multiple fronts.

His support of Israel in its war against Hamas has wounded him politically in the middle of a tough re-election battle with Trump. The Democratic Party’s left flank, furious over how his administration has managed the war and the humanitarian crisis it has created in Gaza, has pummeled Biden over his refusal to demand an immediate cease-fire. Biden is pushing an Israeli-proposed cease-fire and hostage release plan, but he has refused to back away from his support of America's longtime ally.

Besides Israel, Biden has had to battle the Republican-led Congress for more Ukraine funding. He also continues to sound the alarm that democracy is in peril after the attack on the Capitol by a mob of Trump supporters on Jan. 6, 2021, and after Trump’s vow to be a dictator on “day one” if voters return him to office.

Answering the call

Biden’s visit Thursday to the hilltop overlooking the Normandy beaches where Allied troops landed on D-Day will be a tribute to the men whose bravery helped end the bloody campaign of an oppressor.

As he looks onto the crowd of centenarians and their families to celebrate the victories of the past, he’ll also nod to the challenges of the present.

At its heart, his message will be the same as it was then.

What is America? Who are we going to be?

Michael Collins covers the White House. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter, @mcollinsNEWS.

Bret Michaels visits York County store: ‘I was impressed by how down-to-earth he was’

• Updated: Jun. 07, 2024, 7:05 p.m. |
• Published: Jun. 06, 2024, 2:16 p.m.

• Sean Adams | [email protected]

Jason Wetzel, owner of Back to Basics Western Wear in Dillsburg, said he didn’t immediately recognize the recent celebrity visitor to his store. But it wasn’t long before it finally clicked.

“I was in the back storage area, and I was getting ready to leave myself, and I saw my wife talking to somebody,” Wetzel said. “I looked at the guy, and I’m like, ‘he looks awfully familiar.’ And then I thought, ‘he sure looks like Bret Michaels.”

The customer looked like Bret Michaels because he was, in fact, Bret Michaels. The rock star and Poison frontman frequently returns to the region to visit family and spend time in his hometown of Mechanicsburg.

Wetzel said that he was a fan of Michaels work and knew that the singer was from our area, so when Michaels stopped by the store unannounced, but he couldn’t resist confirming the singer’s identity when they spoke.

“[My wife] had no idea who he is at this point,” Wetzel said. “And then I finally asked him, ‘hey, are you Brett Michaels?’ And he said ‘yes I am. I just wanted to stop in and look at a pair of boots.”

Wetzel said that they chatted for a bit, and Michaels perused the boot selection at the store. Michaels also posed for photos with the staff before he left, and while he didn’t end up making a purchase, Wetzel said that Michaels did say he would be back for a pair of boots.

“He’s very nice gentleman,” Wetzel said. “I was impressed with how down to earth he was, how personable he was.”

The owner added that Michaels “seemed like a regular guy, and I was impressed by that.”

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Middle East

Defense secretary austin makes unannounced visit to afghanistan.

As President Biden faces a decision on whether to withdraw troops from the country, U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin went to tour the region himself in a visit to the capital of Kabul.

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Biden campaign launches Pride Month push as allies work to shore up LGBTQ support

President Joe Biden’s re-election campaign is launching an effort at the start of National Pride Month to try to shore up support from LGBTQ voters.

The campaign plans to have a presence this month at more than 200 Pride events in 23 states, including all of the battleground states, and to launch a paid media blitz aimed at mobilizing LGBTQ voters, two campaign officials said in details first shared with NBC News. The campaign will cap the month of outreach with a fundraiser in New York City on June 28. 

Some of Biden’s allies worry about waning support among LGBTQ voters.

Over the weekend, Vice President Kamala Harris kicked off Pride Month by greeting more than 150 LGBTQ leaders and allies in Los Angeles, and first lady Jill Biden made an unannounced stop at the Pittsburgh Pride festival .

“This community is under attack,” the first lady told the crowd, referring to state laws that she said target the LGBTQ community. 

“Donald Trump is a bully to the LGBTQ community, to our families, to our country,” she continued. “We cannot let him win.”

A poll conducted in January by the LGBTQ media advocacy group GLAAD found Joe Biden has overwhelming support from LGBTQ registered voters overall and in battleground states, 68% and 72%, compared to 15% for Trump in both categories.

Yet the largest LGBTQ rights group in the country, the Human Rights Campaign, recently committed to spend $15 million in six battleground states to help Biden win in November, citing concerns about waning support from LGBTQ voters. HRC estimates that this year one-third of the 75 million “equality voters” — who vote based on support for LGBTQ rights — might not be guaranteed Biden voters.

“Our primary task with those voters is to help underscore the stakes of the election,” said Brandon Wolf, HRC’s national press secretary. “The contrast between the two candidates could not be clearer, and that’s especially true when we’re talking about issues of equality.”

The Biden campaign is aware of the statistic and is set to pour money into a digital and print media campaign nationally and in battleground states pitching Biden as “the most pro-equality president in American history” while painting Trump as determined to curb equality for LGBTQ communities.

“Winning campaigns invest early and often into its coalition of support,” said Sam Alleman, the Biden-Harris campaign’s national LGBTQ+ engagement director. “This Pride month is a reflection of real action to mobilize and activate LGBTQ+ voters well ahead of November.”

Any softening of support among LGBTQ voters is a source of frustration for Biden allies who argue he has delivered on their priorities, including backing same-sex marriage as vice president in 2012 ahead of President Barack Obama’s plans to publicly endorse the issue. As president, Biden has signed legislation protecting marriage rights for same-sex couples, ended a ban on transgender Americans’ serving in the military and issued executive orders to protect LGBTQ people’s civil rights.

On Friday, he issued a proclamation declaring June National Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer and Intersex Pride Month, saying that “advancing equality for the LGBTQI+ community is a top priority for my Administration.”

The Biden campaign argues that Trump would take away LGBTQ rights if voters elect him to a second term. As president, Trump banned transgender people from serving in the military, and as a candidate, he has said he’s against gender-affirming care for kids.

Yet former first lady Melania Trump recently headlined a fundraiser for the Log Cabin Republicans, a group that advocates for LGBTQ inclusion in the GOP. The former president’s allies also have recently tried to ensure that the position on same-sex marriage outlined in the official Republican National Committee platform this election cycle isn’t too far right .

The efforts appear aimed at not alienating voters in a tight general election who aren’t as conservative on LGBTQ rights as the GOP base.

NBC News exit polling in the 2020 election found Biden won 64% of the LGBTQ vote , compared with Trump at 27%. 

Wolf contended that Biden has a better record and vision to offer equality voters than Trump, citing passage of the Respect for Marriage Act in 2022 and the creation of rules to protect members of the community in schools and health care settings. 

“The Biden-Harris administration has appointed over 200 openly LGBTQ people to serve in all sorts of roles. That really matters,” Wolf said.

Still, even as Wolf fully embraces the Biden-Harris strategy, he acknowledges Biden has work to do in the queer community and will need to continue showing up.

“The Biden-Harris campaign has an incredible opportunity to get out into communities and talk about not just the things they’ve been able to accomplish,” he said, “but also their vision of what’s possible if we send them back to the White House.”

Aaron Gilchrist is a White House correspondent for NBC News.