The White House has announced first lady Jill Biden will take her second international trip this week to Eastern Europe amid the war following Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine in February.
A press release from the Office of the First Lady Sunday provided the FLOTUS’s itinerary when she travels to Romania and Slovakia later this week, detailing who Biden will meet and how she will spend Mother’s Day.
“First Lady Jill Biden will travel to Romania and Slovakia from May 5 – May 9, 2022,” a White House release said. “During her visit, she will meet with U.S. service members, U.S. embassy personnel, displaced Ukrainian parents and children, humanitarian aid workers, and educators. On Mother’s Day, she will meet with Ukrainian mothers and children who have been forced to flee their home country because of Putin’s war.”
The first lady is scheduled to depart Thursday, May 5, then on Friday, May 6, she is expected to travel to “Mihail Kogalniceau Airbase in Romania, where she will meet with United States military service members. In the evening, the First Lady will travel to Bucharest, Romania,” the release read.
On Mother’s Day, FLOTUS will “travel to Kosice and Vysne Nemecke, Slovakia to meet with refugees, humanitarian aid workers, and local Slovakians who are supporting families who have sought refuge in Slovakia during this crisis,” the release added.
The first lady discussed her upcoming trip to Eastern Europe on Monday.
“Earlier today I announced that at the end of this week, I’ll be headed to Romania and Slovakia to visit our troops and spend Mother’s Day with Ukrainian families who’ve been displaced by Putin war,” Biden shared. “As a mother myself, I can only imagine the grief the families are feeling. 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,” she added.
The first lady’s first international solo trip was in July 2021 when she participated in the opening ceremonies at the Summer Olympics in Japan, reported CNN.