Republicans criticize Biden’s trip to Kyiv as Putin withdraws from nuclear treaty

Comments from right wing are business as usual - but could signal future political battles to come if US to keep sending aid to Ukraine

For Joe Biden to safely visit Ukraine, the White House spirited him out of the country in the middle of the night and made reporters traveling with him swear a temporary oath of secrecy - none of which could protect the president from attacks by Republicans.

The journey was only complicated further by an unexpected announcement. In a speech marking a year since he sent his armies over Ukraine's borders in an ill-fated attempt to take Kyiv, Russian president Vladimir Putin announced his country would no longer participate in the last nuclear arms control treaty with the United States still standing, and accused the west of posing an existential threat to his country.