Biden may not, at this moment, be willing to provide the jets that the Ukrainians are so eager to obtain, but, in his press conference with the Ukrainian leader, he announced “the other half billion dollars … that will be coming your way.’ It’s also a clear statement to Beijing over its reported attempts to broker a peace agreement. The message could be translated as “back off: Uncle Sam still makes the geopolitical weather.”

The media will focus on these talking points. But it’s worth also reflecting on another, less high-profile visit Joe Biden paid to Ukraine almost exactly nine years ago — on Air Force Two not One, when he was vice president in 2014 and Barack Obama had put him charge of dealing with the Maidan Revolution. Back then, he had a more modest aid package of $58 million to offer — as well as a stern warning to “fight the cancer of corruption.”

There was more than a whiff of hypocrisy in those words, since at the time Biden was attracting scrutiny over Hunter Biden, his son. Hunter, a drug addict, was then being ludicrously well paid to work for Burisma, a mining company run by the Ukrainian oligarch Mykola Zlochevsky, a “poster child for corruption,” according to one senior State Department official.

[The visit to Kyiv was overdue, but otherwise a good move that will attract all sorts of media hosannas. It provides a firm contrast to the media silence over the Bidens’ long-term dealings in Ukraine, which may or may not be influencing policy now. — Ed]