Jill Biden pays surprise visit to Ukraine, meets First Lady

UZHHOROD (Ukraine): Jill Biden made an unannounced visit to western Ukraine, holding a surprise Mother's Day meeting with first lady Olena Zelenska to show US support for the embattled nation as Russia presses its punishing war in the eastern regions.

She became the latest high-profile American to enter Ukraine during the war, while Zalenska's public appearance was her first since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24.

I wanted to come on Mother's Day, the US first lady told Zelenska.

I thought it was important to show the Ukrainian people that this war has to stop and this war has been brutal and that the people of the United States stand with the people of Ukraine.

Biden spent about two hours in Ukraine, travelling by vehicle to the town of Uzhhorod, about a 10-minute drive from a Slovakian border village where she had toured a border processing facility.