Zelensky meets Joe Biden in U.S., thanks Congress and the ‘ordinary people’ of America for their support
U.S. President Joe Biden welcomes Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on the South Lawn at the White House in Washington, U.S., December 21, 2022.
| Photo Credit: Reuters
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky arrived on Wednesday at the White House for talks with President Joe Biden as the wartime leader paid his first visit overseas since Russia’s invasion.
“Thank you first of all,” Mr. Zelensky told the U.S. president in a meeting in the Oval Office. “It’s a great honor to be here,” he said.
The Ukrainian President, who said he had wanted to come to the United States earlier, offered his appreciation to Mr. Biden, the U.S. Congress and ordinary Americans for their support.
He gave Mr. Biden the Ukrainian cross for military merit, offered by a captain it had been awarded to. Mr. Biden promised to give the captain a command coin from a U.S. battlefield in Iraq, where his son Beau had fought.
“You are the man of the year,” he told Mr. Zelensky of Time Magazine’s decision to put him on cover.
Mr. Biden said Russian President Vladimir Putin is “escalating his assaults on civilians” and trying to “use winter as a weapon.”
Mr. Zelensky, wearing brown military fatigues rather than a suit, was driven to the White House where Mr. Biden, joined by his wife Jill, put his arm around his shoulder before escorting him past doors where guards held the U.S. and Ukrainian flags.
Earlier, a U.S. official confirmed that a U.S. Air Force jet carrying the Ukrainian leader landed at Joint Base Andrews, just outside the capital. Mr. Zelensky said on his Twitter account before his arrival that the visit, his first known trip outside Ukraine since the war began in February, was “to strengthen resilience and defense capabilities” of Ukraine and to discuss cooperation with the United States.
The highly sensitive trip was taking place after 10 months of a brutal war that has seen tens of thousands of casualties on both sides and devastation for Ukrainian civilians. Just before his arrival, the U.S. announced its largest single delivery of arms to Ukraine, including Patriot surface-to-air missiles, and Congress planned to vote on a spending package that includes about $45 billion in emergency assistance to Ukraine.
Mr. Zelensky headed abroad after making a daring and dangerous trip on Tuesday to what he called the hottest spot on the 1,300-kilometer (800-mile) front line of the war, the city of Bakhmut in Ukraine’s contested Donetsk province. He praised Ukrainian troops for their “courage, resilience and strength” as artillery boomed in the background.
Poland’s private broadcaster, TVN24, said Zelensky crossed into Poland early Wednesday on his way to Washington. The station showed footage of what appeared to be Mr. Zelensky arriving at a train station and being escorted to a motorcade. TVN24 said the video, partially blurred for security reasons, was shot in Przemysl, a Polish border town that has been the arrival point for many refugees fleeing the war. U.S. officials, citing security concerns, were mum about Mr. Zelensky’s travel plans.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement that the visit “will underscore the United States’ steadfast commitment to supporting Ukraine for as long as it takes, including through the provision of economic, humanitarian, and military assistance.”
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, in her invitation to Mr. Zelensky to speak to lawmakers, said “the fight for Ukraine is the fight for democracy itself” and that they were looking forward to “hearing your inspiring message of unity, resilience and determination.”
U.S. and Ukrainian officials have made clear they do not envision an imminent resolution to the war and are preparing for fighting to continue for some time. The latest infusion of U.S. money would be the biggest yet — and exceed Mr. Biden’s $37 billion request.
