US First Lady Jill Biden plans to leave Washington on Thursday for a whirlwind tour of Romania and Slovakia to highlight the US commitment to Ukrainian refugees over Mother’s Day weekend.
The wife of President Joe Biden was supposed to meet US service members and embassy personnel, displaced Ukrainian parents and children, humanitarian aid workers and teachers during the four-day trip, her office said.
Biden, who teaches English and writing at a community college in Virginia, will also meet Romania’s First Lady, Carmen Iohannis, an English teacher, as well as the President of Slovakia Zuzana Caputova.
On Sunday, celebrated as Mother’s Day in the US, Biden will meet Ukrainian mothers and children who have been forced to flee their homes because of Russia’s war against Ukraine, her office said.
US presidential wives have little policy-making power, but often serve a “soft power” role, taking an administration’s message to voters and abroad.