Under cover of darkness, Joe Biden has suddenly turned up in Kyiv.

As in, brave, brave, brave, brave, Joe Biden ... he was not afraid to die, oh, brave Joe Biden...

Which is about par for him, given that he's taken grandstanding congressional trips to places like Afghanistan, where he's come back with tales of himself as a hero.

Bravest of the brave Joe Biden...

According to the Daily Mail:

President Joe Biden arrived in Kyiv on Monday morning on a surprise days before the first anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and declared that Vladimir Putin had failed in his 'war of conquest.'

His visit was shrouded in secrecy. He arrived after the hourslong train journey from Poland with a stripped down press pool of just one reporter and a photographer.

Air raid sirens blared across the besieged Ukrainian capital although there were no reports of Russian missile or air strikes. 

The White House warned the Kremlin before President Joe Biden made his surprise trip to Kyiv Monday, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said. 

'We did notify the Russians that President Biden would be traveling to Kyiv. We did so some hours before his departure for deconfliction purposes,' Sullivan told reporters on a call Monday after Biden departed from Ukraine's capital. 

The Russians, not wanting to see the clown in the White House replaced with, say, a Trump, gladly complied. 

Turns out, it was Russia that allowed and even helped Biden arrive to Kyiv - Russian propagandists discuss his visit. pic.twitter.com/RJzC7ySFlq

— Anton Gerashchenko (@Gerashchenko_en) February 20, 2023

This seems to be a Democrat tradition, to notify the enemy of your activity -- Gen. Mark Milley, after all, assured the ChiComs that he'd make sure they'd know beforehand if the supposedly crazy Trump ever decided to attack.

It was strange stuff because this war is dead serious, and raging on without end, Joe Biden using bottomless American taxpayer money to foot the bill for it "as long as it takes" while Europe pays little. The prospect of escalation in this proxy war grows by the day as does the possibility of nuclear conflict. And the costs have been monstrous, not just the monetary costs which is running in the tens of billions. Ukraine has lost 100,000 men in battle and Russia has lost at least twice as many at 200,000.

But here Joe Biden is, arriving in Kyiv for some photo-op diplomacy, with the stated purpose that he's there for the one-year anniversary of the Russian invasion, as if this was some sort of festivity.

On a speech, Biden said: 'One year later, Kyiv stands. And Ukraine stands. Democracy stands.'

He said Putin had miscalculated. 

'Russia's aim was to wipe Ukraine off the map,' he said. 'Putin's war of conquest is failing. Russia's military has lost half the territory it once occupied. 

The war isn't anywhere near over and has proven itself to be a money pit for the U.S. and its allies. Showing up to celebrate that in the one-year anniversary is nothing short of bizarre.

Meanwhile, Joe has yet to visit toxics-ravaged Ohio, or the battered Southern border. What do those places have to do to get Joe Biden to visit?

It's all public relations, and it's entirely in character with the political tourism seen from other politicians arriving in Ukraine, from the European Union, the U.K, Hollywood's elites, and then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, all getting in on the scene, even as refugees flowed outward and Ukrainians huddled in subways or in blown out buildings in war-torn hellholes such as Mariupol.

Something about the entire photo-op thing seems ... inappropriate. Maybe after the war is won, but of course, there is no sign it's going to be won.

President Trump's ace former Director of National Intelligence Ric Grenell pointed out the hollowness of Biden's entire act, primarily for the cameras:

Joe Biden will be in Poland this week celebrating the Ukraine war with the Bucharest Nine countries - and Vladimir Putin will deliver a speech in Russia Tuesday to ramp up the next phase of war.

No one is negotiating a peace deal. No one.

The State Dept has been shoved aside.

— Richard Grenell (@RichardGrenell) February 19, 2023

The substance here is that Joe Biden is celebrating ... something -- but there are no talks going on to get rid of this nasty war, no efforts to end it, only just spend spend spend, and celebrations of the spending, as if the war was the best thing that ever happened to Joe Biden.

It's wretched stuff, nothing but narrative-building and public relations spin, done at a time when Biden can't be bothered to visit Ohio or the border. Behind it is a dreadful and dirty war with no sign of ending.

Image: Twitter screen shot