WASHINGTON: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was making his way to Washington on Wednesday for a summit with President Joe Biden and an address to a joint session of Congress in his first known trip outside the country since Russia\u2019s invasion began in February.
\nThe highly sensitive trip is taking place after 10 months of a brutal war that has seen tens of thousands killed and wounded on both sides of the conflict, along with devastation for Ukrainian civilians. It also comes as US lawmakers are set to vote on a year-end spending package that includes about $45 billion in emergency assistance to Ukraine and as the Pentagon prepares to send Patriot surface-to-air missiles to the country to defend itself.
\nZelensky headed abroad after making a daring and dangerous trip Tuesday to what he called the hottest spot on the 1,300-kilometer (800-mile) front line of the conflict, the city of Bakhmut in Ukraine\u2019s contested Donetsk province. He praised Ukrainian troops for their \u201ccourage, resilience and strength\u201d as artillery boomed in the background.
\nIn a statement Tuesday night, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Biden looks forward to the visit and that the address to Congress will demonstrate \u201cthe strong, bipartisan support for Ukraine.\u201d
\n\u201cThe visit will underscore the United States\u2019 steadfast commitment to supporting Ukraine for as long as it takes, including through the provision of economic, humanitarian, and military assistance,\u201d she said.
\nUS and Ukrainian officials have made clear they don\u2019t envision an imminent resolution to the war and are preparing for fighting to continue for some time. Biden has repeated that while the US will arm and train Ukraine, American forces will not be directly engaged in the conflict.
\nBiden and Zelensky first discussed the idea of a visit to Washington during their most recent phone call, on Dec. 11, and a formal invitation followed three days later, said a senior US administration official, briefing reporters on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the visit. Zelensky accepted the invitation on Friday and it was confirmed on Sunday, when the White House began coordinating with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to arrange the congressional address.
\nThe White House consulted with Zelensky on security for his departure from Ukraine and travel to Washington, including the risk of Russian action while Zelensky was briefly out of the country, the official added, declining to detail the measures taken to safeguard the Ukrainian leader. The official said the US expected Russia to continue its attacks on Ukrainian forces and civilian infrastructure targets despite the trip.
\nThe tranche of US funding pending before Congress would be the biggest American infusion of assistance yet to Ukraine \u2014 even more than Biden\u2019s $37 billion emergency request \u2014 and is meant to ensure that support flows to the war effort for months to come.
\nOn Wednesday, the US was also set to announce that it will send a major package of $1.8 billion in military aid to Ukraine that will for the first time include a Patriot missile battery and precision guided bombs for its fighter jets, US officials said.
\nThe aid signals an expansion by the US in the kinds of advanced weaponry it will send to Ukraine to bolster its air defenses against what has been an increasing barrage of Russian missiles in recent weeks. The package will include about $1 billion in weapons from Pentagon stocks and $800 million in funding through the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, officials said.
\nThe decision to send the Patriot battery comes despite threats from Russia\u2019s Foreign Ministry that the delivery of the advanced surface-to-air missile system would be considered a provocative step and that the Patriot and any crews accompanying it would be a legitimate target for Moscow\u2019s military.
\nIt\u2019s not clear exactly when the Patriot would arrive on the front lines in Ukraine, since US troops will have to train Ukrainian forces on how to use the high-tech system. The training could take several weeks, and is expected to be done in Germany. To date, all training of Ukraine\u2019s forces by the US and its Western allies has taken place in European countries.
\nThe visit comes at an important moment as the White House braces for greater resistance when Republicans take control of the House in January and give more scrutiny to aid for Ukraine. GOP leader Kevin McCarthy has said his party\u2019s lawmakers will not write a \u201cblank check\u201d for Ukraine.
\nBiden and Zelensky frequently have talked by phone as the White House arranges new tranches of military assistance for Ukraine. The calls have been mostly warm, with Biden praising Ukraine for remaining steadfast against the Russians and Zelensky thanking the US president for support.
\nThe one exception was a June phone call soon after Biden notified Zelensky that an additional $1 billion package was headed to Ukraine. Zelensky didn\u2019t miss a beat in ticking off the additional assistance he said Ukraine needed.
\nThat irked Biden, who underscored to Zelensky the American people\u2019s generosity. But the brief moment of tension hasn\u2019t caused any lasting difficulty, according to officials familiar with the episode.
\nPelosi, who visited Zelensky earlier this year in Kyiv, encouraged lawmakers to be on hand for Wednesday evening\u2019s session.
\n\u201cWe are ending a very special session of the 117th Congress with legislation that makes progress for the American people as well as support for our Democracy,\u201d Pelosi wrote Tuesday in a letter to colleagues. \u201cPlease be present for a very special focus on Democracy Wednesday night.\u201d
\nLater at the Capitol she said of Ukrainians, \u201cThey are fighting for democracy for all of us.\u201d
\nRussia\u2019s invasion, which began Feb. 24, has lost momentum. The illegally annexed provinces of Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia remain fiercely contested.
\nWith the fighting in the east at a stalemate, Moscow has used missiles and drones to attack Ukraine\u2019s power equipment, hoping to leave people without electricity as freezing weather sets in.
\nIn a video released by his office from the Bakhmut visit, Zelensky was handed a Ukrainian flag and alluded to delivering it to US leaders.
\n\u201cThe guys handed over our beautiful Ukrainian flag with their signatures for us to pass on,\u201d Zelensky said in the video. \u201cWe are not in an easy situation. The enemy is increasing its army. Our people are braver and need more powerful weapons. We will pass it on from the boys to the Congress, to the president of the United States. We are grateful for their support, but it is not enough. It is a hint \u2014 it is not enough.\u201d
\nFor his part, Putin on Tuesday hailed the \u201ccourage and self-denial\u201d of his forces in Ukraine \u2014 but he did so at a ceremony in an opulent and glittering hall at the Kremlin in Moscow, not on the battlefield.
\nAt the Kremlin ceremony, Putin presented awards to the Moscow-appointed heads of the four illegally annexed regions of Ukraine. In a video address honoring Russia\u2019s military and security agencies, he praised the security personnel deployed to the four regions, saying that \u201cpeople living there, Russian citizens, count on being protected by you.\u201d
\nPutin acknowledged the challenges faced by the security personnel.
\n\u201cYes, it\u2019s difficult for you,\u201d he said, adding that the situation in the regions is \u201cextremely difficult.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
WASHINGTON: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was making his way to Washington on Wednesday for a summit with President Joe Biden and an address to a joint session of Congress in his first known trip outside the country since Russia\u2019s invasion began in February. The highly sensitive trip is taking place after 10 months of a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":302597,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-302588","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n