Jill Biden: Resilience of Ukrainian refugees ‘inspires me’

WASHINGTON — Jill Biden said she is heading to Romania and Slovakia later this week to visit with Ukrainian families who fled for their lives after Russia invaded their country in hopes of sending the message, despite language barriers, “that their resilience inspires me.”

The White House announced late Sunday that the first lady will spend Mother’s Day meeting Ukrainian refugees, most of whom are women and children.

The May 8 meeting will take place in Slovakia. Biden is scheduled to depart Washington late Thursday on a five-day trip that will also take her to Romania. Both countries share borders with Ukraine, which has spent the past two months fighting off Russia’s military invasion.

Romania and Slovakia also are NATO members.

She discussed the trip Monday while touring a costume exhibit at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, saying she would spend the U.S. holiday dedicated to honoring mothers with Ukrainian families who have been displaced by Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war.

“As a mother myself, I can only imagine the grief families are feeling,” said Biden, a mother of three. “I know that we might not share a language, but I hope that I can convey, in ways so much greater than words, that their resilience inspires me, that they are not forgotten, and that all Americans stand with them still.”

The trip will mark Biden’s latest show of solidarity with Ukraine.

Nearly 5.5 million Ukrainians, mostly women and children, have fled Ukraine since Russia invaded its smaller neighbor on Feb. 24, according to the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees.