Volodymyr Zelensky has arrived at the White Housewhere he was received by US President Joe Biden before their talk in the Oval Office and joint press conference at 4.30pm. The Ukrainian leader wears military uniform. Biden and his wife Jill received Volodymyr Zelensky on the South Lawn of the White House, in front of which the red carpet for special occasions was set up. The two shook hands and embraced before posing for the official photo. “Mr President, welcome back”, President welcome back. These are Biden’s words to Zelensky before entering the White House.
With Zelensky we will “talk” about assistance to Ukraine. This was stated by President Joe Biden, according to reports from the Bloomberg agency. The United States, Biden adds, will strengthen Ukraine’s defense, including its air defense.
“The war is not over. Let’s control the situation” thanks to the support of the United Statessays Zelensky.
US wants a ‘just peace’. Joe Biden says so.
“You’re Time magazine’s Man of the Year. You are the man of the year in the United States“. Biden said this to Zelensky in the meeting in the Oval Office at the White House.
“Zelensky was eager to make his first trip abroad to the United States to thank the country for bipartisan support” for Kiev’s forces, stressed a senior US presidential official.
“I am in Washington today to thank the American people, the President and Congress for their indispensable support. And also to continue cooperation to bring our victory closer. I will hold a series of negotiations to strengthen the resistance and defense capabilities of the Ukraine. In particular, we will discuss bilateral cooperation between Ukraine and the United States of America with US President Joseph Biden. Next year, we must return the Ukrainian flag and freedom to all our land, to all our people.” So Volodymyr Zelensky on Telegram by posting photos of his arrival.
“Volodymyr I hope your flight is going well. Glad to have you here. Lots to discuss.” Joe Biden tweeted it, replying to Volodymyr Zelensky’s twitter on his flight to Washington, on his first trip outside Ukraine since the war broke out.
During the visit of the Ukrainian president, Biden to announce the shipment of a new weapons package to Ukraine “of nearly two billion” dollars which for the first time will contain “Patriot missiles”, added the same source, underlining that “Zelensky’s visit to Washington is a message from the United States to Putin and to the world that we will help Ukraine for as long as necessary” and that Biden does not intend to “push Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at a negotiation”.
For her part, the Speaker of the United States House, Nancy Pelosi, published an open letter to Zelenskiy inviting him to speak personally to Congress today. In the letter, reports the Guardian, Pelosi writes, among other things, that “the fight for Ukraine is the fight for democracy itself”
In a tweet, the Ukrainian president confirmed the news. “I am on my way to the United States – he wrote – to strengthen Ukraine’s resilience and defense capabilities. In particular, the president of the United States and I will discuss cooperation between Ukraine and the states United. I will also give a speech to Congress and a series of bilateral meetings.”
The program of meetings
Zelensky’s historic visit will begin in the afternoon, at 2 pm in the Oval Office, where he will have an interview with President Joe Biden. After the meeting, a joint press conference at the White House is scheduled for 16.30 for the announcement of a new package of US military aid to Kiev of almost two billion dollars. Then the Ukrainian leader will move to Capitol Hill, in the early evening, to address Congress. Biden – according to a senior administration official quoted by CNN – discussed for the first time the prospect of a visit by Zelensky to Washington during a phone call with the Ukrainian leader last December 11th. A formal invitation was extended a week ago which Zelensky accepted, initiating joint consultations on the security parameters of the journey which appeared to be risky and highly confidential. The final decision was made on Sunday.
ANSA Agency
The Chinese leader hopes for a “political solution” to the conflict in Ukraine (ANSA)
President Volodymyr Zelensky’s visit to Washington, described as of “extreme significance”, refutes those who claimed that relations between Ukraine and the United States were “cooling down”, said the Ukrainian president’s main adviser, Mikhailo Podolyak. The Ukrainian leader’s trip to the US, added Podolyak, will be an opportunity to “explain to our American interlocutor the real situation in Ukraine, what weapons the Ukrainians need to fight the Russians and why”. The US, he concluded, “unequivocally supports Ukraine”.
Zelensky traveled by train from Ukraine to Poland and then boarded a plane to fly to Washington. This was revealed by Cnn, which shows a photo and a frame of a video taken by the Polish television station Tvn from behind a metal fence, in which Zelensky can be seen having just got off the train in Przmysl, a Polish town close to the Ukrainian border. Then, says the US broadcaster, the Ukrainian leader got on a 4×4 SUV that took him to Rzeszow airport, where he boarded. The president was in the company of the US ambassador in Kiev, Bridget Ann Brink.
And meanwhile the Russian president Vladimir Putin has announced that his country will soon deploy Sarmat ICBMs, considered the flagship of Moscow’s new military programs. To the declaration, which comes just before the expected announcement of Washington’s green light to send Patriot missiles to Kiev, Putin he also added that the new Zircon hypersonic cruise missile will be included in the Russian fleet in early January.
Meanwhile, in Ukraine, the anti-aircraft sirens sounded again this morning in all regions of the country, announcing a new wave of Russian bombing and missile attacks. At the same time, the deputy head of the President’s Office, Kyrylo Tymoshenko, informed that 5 civilians were killed and 17 others were injured in yesterday’s Russian attacks. According to data from regional military administrations, four civilians were killed in the Donetsk region and one in the Kherson region. Russian forces opened fire on the latter region 71 times yesterday, according to the same source.
“Let us think of the many children of Ukraine who suffer, suffer so much from this war. On this feast of God who becomes a child, let us think of the Ukrainian children”, said Pope Francis at the general audienceand adding that when he meets them in the Vatican “the majority are unable to smile and when a child loses the ability to smile it is serious. These children bear the tragedy of that war which is so inhuman, so hard. Let us think of the Ukrainian people in this Christmas without light, without heating, without the main things to survive and let us pray to the Lord that he brings peace as soon as possible”.
