Ukrainian President Volodomir Zelensky launched the biggest political challenge to Russian President Vladimir Putin since the Russian invasion of Ukraine on Wednesday by landing in Washington and embracing Joe Biden.
It was a secret journey of hours. It began at dawn with a train ride from kyiv to the Polish border and a flight on a US military plane to Washington. In the first meeting, Biden gave him his good news: the approval by Congress, still with a Democratic majority, of $1.8 billion in military aid, including three Patriot missile brigades. With this, US military aid to Ukraine already amounts to 100 billion.
In a press conference at the White House, Zelensky said: “I am here to thank American leaders and ordinary Americans for their support in the fight against the invasion of Russia.” And he emphasized: “There will be no compromises to end the war.”
Biden welcomed Zelensky to the Oval Office and said that the United States and Ukraine they would continue to project a “united defense” as Russia wages a “brutal attack on Ukraine’s right to exist as a nation.”
Zelensky took the opportunity to stress that the trip shows that “the situation is under control.”
Pressed on how Ukraine would try to end the conflict, he rejected Biden’s framework of a “just peace,” saying: “For me, as president, just peace doesn’t mean compromises.”
He made it clear, however, that the war will end once Ukraine’s sovereignty, freedom and territorial integrity are restored, as well as “recovery of all damages inflicted by Russian aggression.”
“There can be no just peace in a war that was imposed on us,” he added.
The highly sensitive trip came after ten months of a brutal war that has left tens of thousands of casualties on both sides and devastated Ukrainian civilians. Zelensky’s visit was aimed at reinvigorating Washington’s support for his country amid concerns that the allies were growing weary of costly warfare and the disruption of global food and energy supplies.
At the press conference, Biden established his interpretation of Russian military thought in the field of operations. “They are trying to use winter as a weapon, but the Ukrainian people continue to inspire the world.” And he added that Putin “has no intention of stopping this cruel war.”
The two leaders appeared to share a warm rapport, laughing at each other’s comments and patting each other on the back during the visit, though Zelensky made it clear that he will continue to press Biden and other Western leaders for increasing support.
He said that after the Patriot missile system is operational, “we will send another signal to President Biden that we would like to have more Patriots.”
“We are in a war,” he added with a smile, as Biden laughed at the direct request. “I’m sorry. I am so sorry,” she stated.
Biden said it is “important to the American people and to the world to hear directly from you, Mr. President, about the Ukraine fight and the need to continue to be united until 2023.”
After the meeting at the White House, the Ukrainian president was scheduled to give a speech to Congress, which will be attended by Vice President Kamala Harris.
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 the president arriving at a train station escorted by a convoy of American pickup trucks. The video, partially blurred for security reasons, was filmed in Przemysl, a Polish border town that has been the arrival point for many refugees fleeing the war, according to the emosora.
Citing security concerns, officials were cautious about Zelensky’s travel plans, but a US official confirmed that the president arrived on an Air Force plane that landed at Joint Base Andrews outside the capital. from the Polish city of Rzeszow.
Biden has repeated that while the United States will arm and train Ukraine, US forces will never be directly involved in the war.
Biden and Zelenskii first discussed the idea of a visit during a phone call on December 11. Three days later there was a formal invitation, according to a senior US administration official. Zelensky accepted the invitation on Friday and the visit was confirmed on Sunday.
