Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky has departed for Washington to meet with the US President Joe Biden and address the Congress, the White House reports.
“President Joe Biden and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky are planning to meet at the White House on Wednesday, according to two sources familiar with the planning, in a Washington visit that is tentatively scheduled to include an address to a joint session of Congress,” CNN previously reported.
During the meeting, the leaders will discuss “an additional $1.8 billion in security assistance”, CNN noted.
The White House previously refused to comment on the potential visit by the Ukrainian president.
“I don’t know that that’s going to happen,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi previously said when asked about the visit. Still, Pelosi used the press release published on 20 December to invite the congressmen to be “physically present at our session Wednesday night”.
The US media note that this will be the first trip abroad for Zelensky since the start of the Russian invasion.
According to Associated Press, which cites government officials, the US “will send $1.8 billion in military aid to Ukraine in a massive package that will for the first time include a Patriot missile battery and precision guided bombs for their fighter jets”.
Yesterday, 20 December, Zelensky visited the city of Bakhmut, Donetsk region. Heavy fighting has been going on in the city for weeks, with both Russia and Ukraine suffering significant losses. The Ukrainian president awarded medals to Ukraine’s Armed Forces’ soldiers.
On 15 December, The Washington Post reported, citing sources, that the US administration was planning to give Ukraine “advanced electronic equipment that converts unguided aerial munitions into ‘smart bombs’ that can target Russian military positions with a high degree of accuracy”.
The Biden administration, according to WP, was also considering providing Ukraine with a Patriot missile system. One battery of a Patriot system costs approximately $1 bln.
