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Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy is headed to Washington for high-level meetings to garner support for additional aid after attending the UN General Assembly next week, as per sources familiar with the matter.
Zelenskyy will meet with US president Joe Biden at the White House and lawmakers on Capitol Hill. He is also expected to visit the Pentagon to meet defense secretary Lloyd Austin.
This trip comes as the White House urges Congress to approve $24bn in extra funds for Kyiv to support its military efforts through the beginning of next year, amidst growing tensions within the Republican party over the level of support Washington should provide to Ukraine following Moscow’s full-scale invasion last year.
The Ukrainian military made significant progress in its counteroffensive campaign to regain territory from Russia on Friday, retaking the village of Andriivka near Bakhmut in the eastern Donetsk region and defeating enemy forces, according to the General Staff of Ukraine’s Armed Forces.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken, the highest-ranking US official to visit Ukraine since its summer counteroffensive began, announced the latest package of security and humanitarian assistance worth $1bn during his surprise visit to the Ukrainian capital Kyiv last week.
The Biden administration is also nearing a decision on whether to provide Ukraine with long-range missiles called ATACMS, which Kyiv has long sought to disrupt Russian military logistics beyond the front line. A senior Biden administration official told the Financial Times last week that “a decision could be coming soon”.
Andriy Yermak, chief of staff to Zelenskyy, expressed confidence that the US would agree to send ATACMS.
Zelenskyy’s office, which does not typically announce foreign travel plans in advance for security reasons, did not respond to a request for comment on the upcoming US visit. The White House declined to comment.
He last visited Washington in December, delivering a passionate plea to a joint session of Congress and the American public to increase support for Ukraine in its fight against Russia’s invasion.
US support was vital to help Ukraine “not just to stand in such a fight, but to get to the turning point to win on the battlefield,” he said. “Your money is not charity, it’s an investment in global security and democracy.”
Zelenskyy is not expected to speak to a joint meeting of lawmakers this time but to hold talks with smaller groups inside the Capitol.
His trip will follow a visit to Vladivostok in Russia by North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, who pledged his country’s “full and unconditional support” to Russian president Vladimir Putin and the Russian army in their continued war against Ukraine.
The Russians are in need of ammunition, particularly artillery shells, as they try to defend captured territory in southeastern Ukraine, which Putin claimed to have annexed to Russia last September.
Ukrainian forces continue to push forward with their counteroffensive, launched three months ago. While it hasn’t yielded the significant gains Kyiv and its western supporters hoped for, Ukraine is still making progress.
The recapture of Andriivka by Ukrainian forces on Friday marked one of the most important battlefield victories in the east since the nearby city of Bakhmut fell under Moscow’s control in May.
Russian forces suffered significant losses of personnel and equipment, while Ukrainian troops managed to entrench themselves and secure their advance around the village, according to Ukraine’s 3rd Separate Assault Brigade on Telegram.
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