May 2 (UPI) — First lady Jill Biden will travel to Eastern Europe later this week in a show of support for Ukrainian refugees amid Russia’s war, her office said.
Biden will depart Washington, D.C., on Thursday and arrive at Mihail Kogalniceanu Air Base in Romania on Friday when she’ll meet with U.S. service members stationed there, her office said.
She will then head to the capital Bucharest on Saturday for meetings with the Romanian government and humanitarian workers before traveling to Slovakia’s capital of Bratislava that evening when she’ll meet U.S. embassy staff.
On Mother’s Day Sunday, she is scheduled to depart for Kosice and Vysne Nemecke, Slovakia, to meet “Ukrainian mothers and children who have been forced to flee their home country because of [Russian President Vladimir] Putin’s war,” according to Axios.
She will also meet “humanitarian aid workers and local Slovakians who are supporting families who have sought refuge in Slovakia during this crisis.”
Before returning the the United States, she’ll meet with Slovakian government officials on May 9.
Since the war began Feb. 24, nearly 5.5 million people have fled Ukraine, with more than 3 million seeking refuge in Poland and more than 800,000 in Romania, according to the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees. Slovakia has taken in almost 400,000.
