Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will seek greater support from the United States on Wednesday as part of a visit to Washington, while Russia refuses to set deadlines for its military campaign in Ukraine.
Zelenski’s trip to Washington today has been prepared under “strict secrecy” and with great concern to guarantee the safety of the European president, The New York Times reported.
I will discuss the cooperation between Ukraine and the United States. I will also have a speech in Congress and a series of bilateral meetings
The newspaper cites as sources senior US administration officials who spoke on condition of anonymity about the “concern” in Washington to organize this visit, Zelensky’s first abroad since the Russian invasion of Ukraine began on February 24. .
The White House announced the visit at dawn, which would later be confirmed by the Ukrainian president himself, and which will include an intervention before a joint session of the two Houses of the United States Congress.
“President Biden looks forward to welcoming President Zelenski to the White House today, December 21,” White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre explained.
The spokeswoman also confirmed that during this visit Biden will announce a new aid package for Ukraine so that it can “defend itself against Russian aggression.”
For his part, the Ukrainian president himself confirmed the trip. “On my way to the US to strengthen Ukraine’s resilience and defense capabilities,” he said on his Twitter account, in which he also confirmed that he will hold a meeting with Biden. “I will discuss the cooperation between Ukraine and the United States. I will also have a speech in Congress and a series of bilateral meetings,” the president said.
This is the first visit abroad by the Ukrainian president since his country was invaded on February 24, in a conflict that has just exceeded 300 days.
(Keep reading: US position on Petro’s proposal on gradual coca cultivation).
President Biden looks forward to welcoming President Zelensky to the White House today, December 21.
However, Russia does not expect positive changes in Ukraine’s position after its president’s visit to Washington, the Kremlin said today.
“No”, the spokesman for the Russian Presidency, Dmitri Peskov, responded concisely to the question about whether Moscow expected Zelensky’s visit to the US to positively influence its position on possible negotiations with Russia.
To another question, about whether the Ukrainian leader’s trip could cause a further escalation of the conflict, Peskov said that “arms supplies continue” to Ukraine and that “leads to an aggravation of the conflict” and “does not bode well for kyiv”.
Russian President Vladimir Putin will not deliver his state of the nation address this year, as he is bound by the Constitution, the Kremlin announced today.
“Before the New Year, the president, of course, will not make the speech. Now, due to a matter of time, his schedule is very tight,” Dmitri Peskov, a Kremlin spokesman, said in his daily telephone briefing.
Putin, who the independent press accuses of wanting to avoid uncomfortable questions about defeats on the battlefield in Ukraine, had not canceled that address even during the coronavirus pandemic in 2020 and 2021.
A high-level US administration official confirmed in a call with journalists that Zelensky will only be in Washington for “a few hours” and will hold a conversation with Biden at the White House and then speak before lawmakers in plenary session of the country’s Congress. .
During the visit, the US president will announce the shipment of a new $2 billion military aid package to Ukraine, which will include a Patriot missile battery, a highly effective anti-missile defense system that kyiv has been requesting from Washington for some time.
The United States is Ukraine’s main ally in the open conflict with Russia and has approved several million-dollar packages of economic aid and weapons in recent months to help kyiv in its defense against the Russian military invasion.
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