Details of Zelensky's route to Washington revealed

The BBC wrote:

Extraordinary security measures were taken to bring Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky from Ukraine to the US capital, showing how much the two countries value their relationship.

The possibility of Zelensky's visit had been discussed for months, journalists reported:

Unsurprisingly, no official information has been released about the trip - even in peacetime, strict security measures are in place during presidential visits, and for the leader of a country at war, the risk is even greater.

Biden and Zelensky spoke about the visit on 11 December, and Zelensky received an invitation three days later. Only after this confirmation could a final action plan be launched.

The BBC claims that Zelensky travelled to the front line in Bakhmut, then secretly boarded an overnight train to Poland. In Poland he was immediately picked up by a US Air Force plane, reportedly accompanied by a NATO reconnaissance plane and an F-15 fighter jet.

BBC retracts:

Polish television showed Zelensky walking with his presidential entourage on the platform in front of a blue-and-yellow Ukrainian train. They then all got into waiting cars, including a black Chevrolet Suburban, the US government's favourite model.

Soon afterwards, flight tracking systems showed that the US Air Force C-40B "Boeing", on board which Zelensky was allegedly on board, had taken off from Rzeszow Airport about 80 km west of Przemyśl.

A NATO reconnaissance aircraft followed in front of the plane in which Zelenski was flying:

The plane was heading northwest towards the UK, but before it entered its airspace over the North Sea, the NATO reconnaissance plane scanned the area. Russian submarines are known to patrol the sea.

A US F-15 fighter jet, flying from a base in England, escorted the plane with the Ukrainian president part of its way.

Zelensky's plane landed in the US, 10 hours into the journey:

Around noon in Washington - almost 10 hours after takeoff and before many more hours in transit for the Ukrainian president - the plane landed near Washington DC.

In the US, Zelensky was guarded by Secret Service officers, as were all visiting heads of state.

ABC television sources said that even in the US they were wary of possible Russian action.

By Thursday, Zelensky was back in Europe - he wrote on Telegram that he had made a stopover in Poland and met with its president Andrzej Duda.

Journalists stressed:

Zelensky has now reportedly already crossed the Ukrainian border, but US intelligence officials will only breathe a sigh of relief when he returns safely to Kiev. As one official earlier noted in an interview with ABC: "Putin and the Kremlin know that he has a road home to go."