Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky is set to visit Washington to meet US President Joe Biden on Wednesday, the White House has confirmed.
Reports say this is his first foreign trip since the Russian invasion in February. Zelensky will also be given the opportunity to address Congress.
Zelensky regularly hosts foreign leaders in the capital, Kyiv, and has visited troops around Ukraine. He made an unannounced visit to the front-line city of Bakhmut on Tuesday.
President Zelensky’s office formally accepted the invitation to Washington last Friday, before the visit was finally confirmed on Sunday.
In a letter on Tuesday, Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi urged members of Congress to be in attendance on Wednesday night.
“Please be present for a very special focus on democracy,” she wrote, without giving further details.
The Ukrainian president has also spoken frequently to world leaders over the telephone and by video call – often from his office in Kyiv.
But an unannounced visit to a foreign country marks a first since the war began, and also signals the importance of Ukraine’s relationship with the US which has played a leading role in providing military support.
In terms of overall spending on direct military support since the start of the conflict, the US has committed $18.5billion, far more than any other individual country November 20.
Chart showing largest donors of aid for weapons and equipment to Ukraine including the US, $18.5 billion and Germany $2.3 billion and UK $1.9 billion.
President Zelensky has appealed for more funding, and has said the monthly cost of defence for Ukraine was about $5bn .
Most recently, US media have reported that President Joe Biden’s administration is considering supplying Ukraine with Patriot missiles that would enable the country to protect its vital infrastructure against Russian attacks.
Russia has been targeting Ukraine’s energy sector, plunging millions into darkness in winter temperatures several degrees below freezing.
On Tuesday, President Zelensky made an unannounced visit to the front-line city of Bakhmut, where Ukrainian and Russian forces have fought a fierce, months-long battle.
He met troops and handed out awards to soldiers, the presidency said. The visit was a significant show of defiance – and a demonstration of support for Ukrainian forces engaged in some of the fiercest battles in recent weeks.
Soldiers gave Zelensky a Ukrainian flag with their names signed on it and asked him to give it to President Biden and the US Congress, in a moment that was captured on camera.
On the same day, Russian President Vladimir Putin awarded medals inside the Kremlin to figures involved in the Russian invasion.
Vladimir Putin awards sergeant of the Russian National Guard Troops, Lev Makeyev, with the Order of Courage during a ceremony at the Kremlin
Since Russia invaded Ukraine on 24 February, the US military estimates that at least 100,000 Russian and 100,000 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed or injured, along with some 40,000 civilian deaths.
The UN has recorded 7.8 million people as refugees from Ukraine across Europe, including Russia. However, the figure does not include those who have been forced to flee their homes but remain in Ukraine.