United States President Joe Biden's 2024 election campaign ad debuted on social media Thursday and will air on TV in US battleground states during prime time on Saturday.

The 60-second spot shows a sunglasses-clad Biden, war zone imagery based on his surprise trip to Kyiv in February and macho voiceover that portray the global leadership of the 80-year-old president.

It also makes America's oldest commander-in-chief the embodiment of the Democrat's support against Russia's brutal 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

It was a political gamble for Biden to give Kyiv his full backing  — and more than $43 billion in military aid — but he is now doubling down that it could help him at the ballot box.

"It was the first time in modern history that an American president went into a war zone not controlled by the United States," the ad starts, narrated by a gravelly voiced man.

the ad shows photos of Biden taking a train from Poland to Kyiv "under cover of night."

It then describes him walking "shoulder to shoulder with our allies in the war-torn streets, standing up for democracy in a place where a tyrant is waging war to take it away."

Cue a picture of Putin raising a glass of champagne. Then footage of soldiers firing cannons, followed by Biden in his trademark aviator sunglasses meeting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

"In the middle of a war zone, Joe Biden showed the world what America is made of. That's the quiet strength of a true leader who doesn't back down to a dictator," the ad concludes.

The ad shows Team Biden sees his Ukraine stance as crucial for a counteroffensive against Republican contenders.

The president is struggling with tepid approval ratings and low visibility ahead of a possible rematch with airtime-hogging Donald Trump next year.

Both Republican and Democrat voters are concerned that he's too old for a second term.

WITH AFP