Biden Goes To Ukraine | Learn English with the News

In this lesson, we're going to read a news  article together so you can learn a lot of  

advanced vocabulary, advanced grammar, and  the correct pronunciation. Let's get started.  

Welcome to our article. As you can see, we're  talking about Ukraine, hopefully a more optimistic  

tone because Biden made a surprise visit. So  let's review the article together. The headline,  

Biden made surprise visit to Ukraine for  first time since full scale war began.  

First I want to point out that in headlines it's  very common to omit which means not include words  

that are unnecessary, such as articles or even  subjects. And in this headline, there are some  

articles that are omitted, not included. Do you  know what articles are missing? Grammatically?  

We would need an article before visits because  visits is a noun of visit by mates all visits  

a surprise visit surprise is an adjective. Now a  surprise means it was unexpected. Nobody knew it  

was going to happen. All right here on unexpected  unexpected to the general public. I'm sure  

that the Lensky knew that Biden was coming. But  perhaps the American people, the Ukrainian people,  

and the world in general did not know that's a  surprise visit. Biden makes a surprise visit.  

So using surprise as an adjective for example,  your boss could make a surprise announcement,  

an announcement that nobody was expecting. My  boss made a surprise announcement. Now we're  

all getting raises. Woohoo. That means you're  making more money. So that's a very good surprise  

announcement. And of course I included the article  because the article is necessary grammatically.  

It's just very common to leave it out specifically  in headlines. I didn't meet surprise visit to  

Ukraine. Or first time another article is missing.  Do you know what or the first time the first time  

first is a ordinal number and orderable numbers  need articles. This is a grammatical rule. So  

you need to say I work on the second floor.  Notice you can't say I work on second floor.  

You need to say I work on the second floor. The  second floor. I work on the first floor the fifth  

floor I live on the 19th floor, whatever it may  be. Or you could say this is the first time I  

made a surprise announcement. So notice we  commonly use this with time as well. This  

is the first time this is the second time I've  watched a jay forest English video for example.  

Okay, for the first time since full scale war  began. We also need since the full scale war  

began because war is a noun and we need an  article or war. The full scale war again.  

Okay, let's continue on. President Joe Biden  slipped into key. This is a phrasal verb when  

I see this slipped into Kyiv I understand that  he went secretively and that makes sense right  

because we have this surprise visit. So when you  slip into a location or a place you try to enter  

without being seen or heard. Here's an example  sentence. I slipped into the meeting 10 minutes  

late. So if you're 10 minutes late, you don't  want your boss or your client to know so you'll  

try to slip in you'll try to enter without being  seen or her. Some Joe Biden slipped into keep on  

Monday for the first time. Now notice here  they are using the article. Like I said it's  

grammatically required. It's just very commonly  omitted from the subtitle and the main title  

or the first time since Russia launched a full  scale invasion of Ukraine almost a year ago. Now  

notice here we have since and then what verb do  we have following since since Russia launched?  

So we have sense and then a past simple. Now  students also generally know that sense is a  

key word for which verb tense, the present perfect  so let me show you how they can be used together.  

I slipped into many meetings since I started. So  since I started working for this company since I  

started in this new position, I've slipped into  many meetings. So this part, I've slipped into  

many meetings is showing how many times this  action has happened since a moment in the past.  

Which is since I started that's the moment in the  past, which is why it's in the past simple because  

it's a completed past action. This is in the  present perfect because it's on going action and  

the timeline is still ongoing, so I can slip into  more meetings in the future. I've slipped into  

three meetings since I started, but next  week, I might slip into another meeting,  

which means it's four meetings. So  this is an ongoing time reference.  

Considering the placement, it's flexible, you  can say since that's how I started I slipped into  

four meetings. So you can put this clause at the  beginning or the end. Both of them are correct.  

Let's continue on, demonstrating in dramatic  personal fashion, his commitment to the country.  

Notice your commitment and then we have the  preposition to commitment to commitment in  

this case is a noun it belongs to him his  commitment. So this is a noun. What's the  

verb form of commitment commitment is a noun,  what's the verb? The verb of commitment is commit,  

commit, but you also need the preposition to which  means if you have a verb, you need the ing form,  

because you have this preposition to. So you  can say I'm committed to improving my public  

speaking skills. I'm committed to let's continue  on the highly secretive visit. So in this case,  

we have secretive again, which is our adjective,  secretive. Let me highlight this for you. And this  

is an adjective. It's describing the visit. It's  a secret of visit. Now highly is an adverb, and  

it simply is emphasizing how secretive it is. It's  another way of saying very, it's a more advanced  

way of saying very, so you could say she's a  committed person. She's a very committed person,  

or to sound a little more advanced, a little more  professional. She's a highly committed person. So  

you can use this as an adverb. Let's continue on  the highly secretive visit comes out of critical  

moment. Critical in this case, simply means very  important. Very important. That's critical. Very  

important. Moments in the 12 month conflict.  This is how long the conflict has been going on.  

With Russia preparing for it expected spring  offensive. Okay, so this is why it's a highly  

secretive visit. And why it's critical because  Russia might be launching another offensive,  

which means an attack and Ukraine hoping to soon  retake territory. When you have re in front of a  

verb it means again, so in this case, it means  take the territory again. This is very commonly  

used, you might say I need to rewrite the report.  You wrote it once. Your client did not like it.  

So you need to rip it up and rewrite it,  write it again. Or you might say, let's,  

let's re watch that movie. So if there's a movie  you really like you watched it once, but you want  

to watch it again. Let's re watch that movie. And  notice my pronunciation. We pronounced this as  

a full Read, read E E, it has that long e sound.  So it's not like a row row watch. No. Rewatch re,  

write, rewrite, retake, re hoping to soon  retake territory, take the territory again.  

Let's continue on. Biden announced a  half billion dollars it new assistants,  

saying the package would include more military  equipment, such as artillery ammunition,  

more javelins and how Blitzers I don't know what  a javelin or a Khalid sir is. Obviously it's some  

sort of artillery artillery is equipment that's  used in battle in a attack. So this could be a  

gun, a tank, some sort of machine, but I'm  not exactly sure what this is to be honest.  

And he said new sanctions will be imposed  on Moscow later this week. So Biden,  

as the President of the United States is going to  be imposing sanctions. Notice the choice. I think  

most people know what sanctions are a sanction  is a penalty basically given to a country because  

they violated some sort of rule. A sanction. Now  you impose a sanction imposed simply means you  

give a sanction, we gave Moscow a sanction. But we  don't use the verb give you use the verb impose.  

So you can say the US has imposed many sanctions  on Russia. Notice our preposition on Russia. Now,  

if I want to use sense What verb tense am I going  to use next? We already discuss this. I already  

have my present permit. The US has imposed many  sanctions on Russia since What verb tense since  

the war began began. So the past simple, present  perfect because this many could represent for  

sanctions, but next week, there could be five  sanctions or six things shifts. So this is an  

unfinished timeline. But this part is a completed  past action, which is why it's in the past simple.  

Alright, let's continue on. One year later,  he stands and Ukraine stand. Democracy stands  

Biden said so in this case stand in the sense  of Romania. Romania remains in place. Russia has  

not been successful in their attempt to destroy  key destroy Ukraine destroy democracy it stands,  

it remains remain ravines. That's what the stance  means. In all of these examples. Keep stands  

remains. Let's continue on. The United States  and other Western nations have been rushing arms,  

tanks and ammunition to Ukraine. When you  rush something somewhere, it simply means  

you try to get it there quickly. That's where  the verb rush comes from. So you might say  

I've been rushing to finish this report. I've been  rushing to finish this report. So if you only have  

10 minutes left on that deadline, you need to type  really, really bad I've been rushing to finish the  

report, or you could talk about it as a completed  action on had to rush to the airport. So let's  

say you slept in. Your alarm did not go off. You  woke up late, and you had to rush to the airport,  

you had to go there very quickly. So you  can rush to do something. So in this case,  

to finish the report to submit something  to complete something to buy something so  

rush to do something. Let me just write that  for you. I've been rushing to do something  

or you can rush to a location, which means you go  there very quickly to a location. Now we also say  

I'm in a rush in a rush. So in this case, is  another way of saying I'm in a hurry. So let's say  

someone calls you and they're taking quite a long  time to tell a story or to give you information.  

You might say I'm so sorry, but can't you hurry?  Because I'm in a rush. I'm late for a meeting. So  

this is a very good expressions to have. When you  need to tell someone to brewery up. I'm in a rush.  

Let's continue on in the hopes of changing the  trajectory of the war, trajectory, trajectory,  

trajectory, typical for pronounciation  trajectory, the trajectory of the war is  

the path that the war is following, but don't  use this word to replace path is all context  

because it's really used in the specific  context of war and conflict. Because when  

a missile is shot or any kind of gun is shot,  you talk about the trajectory of the bullet,  

and that's the path that the bullet follows. So  we really use this specifically in a military  

context. I don't encourage you to use this  outside of a military or conflict context.  

By visiting in person, Biden is offering a  singular image of American support for Solinsky  

Lansky is the Ukrainian president. Singular  means one one image, which is important because,  

of course, in the United States, there are  different political views, different parties,  

Joe Biden, the president represents the view of  one party but there are people that oppose his  

views and have different views. But this is saying  that all of America shares one view, we support  

Ukraine. That's the singular image the singular  message, the singular opinion one opinion,  

which is why he went in person, rather than  just a zoom call or something like that.  

A singular image of American support  so not just Joe Biden's party support,  

not just the support of a few people  all of America. So it's a very strong  

image, a very strong statement here. Biden is  offering a singular image of American support  

personal Lensky, who has spent the past year  attempting to rally the world behind his nation.  

When you try to rally someone, you're  trying to get someone to do something.  

So here's an example sentence. How can we  rally the employees to work on the weekend,  

so most likely, people don't want to work on the  weekend, so you need to rally them rally someone  

to do something, and it means to try to get  someone to do something. So maybe you can offer  

them a bonus buy them lunch or give them some sort  of reward or incentive. That's how you can rally  

the employees. So as the Lenski is trying to rally  the world he wants the world to support Ukraine.  

All right rally the world behind his nation  behind his nation just means to support  

his nation and appealing for greater levels of  assistance appeal when you appeal for something,  

it just means you ask for something to  ask for something I'll add to strongly  

ask for something and the something he's  asking for is greater levels of assistance.  

Let's continue on Biden arrived in Kyiv  at 8am, local time, after a lengthy Coover  

journey from Washington. He departed he's in  the early afternoon, so a very short visit. He  

arrives at eight he departed early afternoon to me  sounds like 2pm 2pm ish would be early afternoon.  

Thank you for coming. Solinsky  says shaking Biden's hand.  

US officials have privately voiced hope  the massive influx of weaponry to Ukraine  

can help Ukraine prevail on the battlefield  and puts the Lensky in a stronger position  

to negotiate an end to the war. Okay, and  it works. When you have an influx. It's  

something coming in so receiving something,  something coming in or receiving something.  

And that makes sense. Right? He has a massive  influx of weapon tree a lot of weapon tree  

coming into Ukraine. from other countries and  prevail simply means to win to beat the opponent  

so to prevail on the battlefield to win on the  battlefield and puts it in a stronger position  

to negotiate an end to the war. But it remains  unclear what rameters the landscape might be  

willing to accept in any peace negotiations. And  the US has steadfastly refused to define what a  

settlement may look like. Beyond stating it will  be up to the Lensky to decide here, stead fastly.  

This is an adverb and they simply mean strongly  without stopping. So he's refused to define what  

the settlement may look like. And he's still  refusing he's not stopping. He's strongly  

refusing. Beyond stating it will be up to the  Lensky to design so it's the US has refused  

to define it. Which makes sense because it's a  settlement involving Ukraine and Russia. So the  

US doesn't want to get involved in the settlement,  which is why President Joe Biden is refusing and  

steadfastly refusing, steadfastly refusing.  Now, to be off to someone to be up to someone  

this is a great idiom. You can use it in your  everyday speech to the off to someone means it's  

someone's decision. It's someone's decision.  We use this in a very casual context here is  

used in a more formal context, but it's very  commonly used in a casual context. What do  

you want to have for dinner tonight? It's up to  you. It's up to you. Not a question mark. Period.  

It's up to you. It's your decision. It's your  responsibility to decide I want you to design so  

it's a polite way of saying I want you to design  it, someone's decision. I'll just write that here.  

This means I want you to design so it's a polite  way of saying that so when somebody asks you,  

What do you want to have to eat? Where do you want  to go? What movie do you want to watch? What do  

you want to do? You can say it's up to you. It's  up to you. Let's continue on during their talks  

inside the presidential palace Biden laid out  his rationale. When you lay something out in this  

context, it means you explain in detail explained  in detail his rationale for visiting the Ukrainian  

capital as the war enters a second year. So it  was a surprise visit, right? So when he got there,  

he explained to the public. why he's here why  he's in Ukraine. And remember, what's the reason?  

Because he wants that singular image that  one image that the US supports Ukraine. Why?  

Because the US supports democracy. That's his  rationale. And he laid it out. He laid it out.  

He explains it in detail. Let's continue  on. I thought it was critical that there  

not be any doubt none whatsoever about us  support for Ukraine in the war. Biden said  

the Ukrainian people have stepped up in a way  that few people ever have in the past, he added  

to stop on this is a useful phrasal verb. It means  to take action when there is a need or opportunity  

for it. So the Ukrainian people have taken  action. What action have they taken to be honest,  

I'm not sure likely to offer assistance to  other Ukrainians in need to support each  

other to do things like that some sort of  action of support and of course there's a  

need for it because of the war right now this  is used a lot in a workplace context when you  

want someone to take action when there  is a need or opportunity. For example,  

Jeremy is awesome. He always steps up. So he's  always there to take action when there's a need  

or when there's an opportunity. So if somebody  needs help, Jeremy is always the person that  

says I can help I can do that. I have time. Let  me help you. That's Jeremy. He always snapped up  

and that's the end of our article. What I'll  do now is I'll go back up to the top and I'll  

read the article from start to finish so you can  focus on my pronunciation. So let's do that now.  

Biden made surprise visit to Ukraine for  first time since full scale war began.  

President Joe Biden slipped in to keep on Monday  for the first time since Russia launched a full  

scale invasion of Ukraine almost a year ago,  demonstrating in dramatic personal fashion,  

his commitment to the country and its struggle.  As the war enters an uncertain new face.  

A highly secretive visit comes at a critical  moment in the 12 month conflict with Russia  

preparing for an expected spring offensive  and Ukraine hoping to soon retake territory  

Biden announced a half billion dollars in  new assistance, seeing the package would  

include more military equipment, such as artillery  ammunition, more javelins and how it serves. And  

he said new sanctions will be imposed on Moscow.  Later this week. One year leader keep stance and  

Ukraine stance democracy stance, Biden said the  United States and other Western nations have been  

rushing arms, tanks and ammunition to Ukraine  in the hopes of changing the trajectory of the  

war. By visiting in person Biden is offering a  singular image of American support for Solinsky,  

who has spent the past year attempting  to rally the world behind his nation and  

appealing for greater levels of assistance.  Biden arrived in Kyiv at 8am local time,  

after a lengthy covert journey from Washington.  He departed Keith in the early afternoon. Thank  

you for coming Solinsky said shaking Biden's  hand. US officials have privately voiced hope  

the massive influx of weaponry to Ukraine can  help Ukraine prevail on the battlefield and  

puts Alinsky in a stronger position to negotiate  an end to the war. But it remains unclear what  

parameters Alinsky might be willing to accept in  any peace negotiations. And the US has steadfastly  

refused to define what a settlement may look like  beyond stating it will be up to the landscape to  

decide during their talks inside the presidential  palace. Biden laid out his rationale for visiting  

the Ukrainian capital as the war enters a  second year. I thought it was critical that  

there not be any doubt none whatsoever about  us support for Ukraine in the war, Biden said  

the Ukrainian people have stepped up in a way that  few people have ever in the past, he added if you  

liked this article I recommend that you watch  this lesson nice because we'll review another  

article together and if you haven't already,  make sure you get your free speaking guide  

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