Biden welcomes Zelensky to the White House

The President of Ukraine presents Biden with a Military Merit Cross donated by a Ukrainian commander

The President of the United States, Joe Biden, received his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodimir Zelenski, at the White House on Wednesday in what is the president's first trip outside of Ukraine since the outbreak of the war on February 24.

Zelenski, dressed in his usual olive-colored clothing, has posed with Biden and his wife, Jill Biden, at the gates of the White House, thus leaving a historical image that accounts for the relationship between the two countries and their opposition to the Vladimir Putin's Russia.

Minutes later, Biden and Zelenski spoke briefly inside the White House before the media. In this conversation, the US president has taken the opportunity to denounce the Russian attacks and has denounced that Putin tries to "use winter as a weapon".

Faced with this, Biden has valued the joint support of Democrats and Republicans, as well as European and international partners, to provide "humanitarian and security aid" to Ukraine, and has stressed that he will supply the Ukrainian Army with more weapons and training his troops to their good use.

For his part, Zelenski thanked Biden for his invitation and acknowledged that it is "a real honor" to be able to be in the White House, a place he would have liked to go to before, but to which he has not been able to travel "because The situation (in Ukraine) is very difficult."

"Now we can start to control the situation thanks to your support. We have very important issues to talk about," acknowledged the Ukrainian president, who, beyond the challenges facing both his country and "the world," He has transferred "from the heart" the gratitude of his fellow citizens to the authorities and the American people.

At this point, the Ukrainian president has thanked Biden for his "leadership" and, as proof of this, has presented him with a Military Merit Cross that an Army captain had given him to give to the US president.

Biden, who has been grateful, has claimed not to be deserving of it and has reported that one of his sons fought in Iraq and also received a similar medal that "he always took to the battlefield." "I'll take care of getting it to you", she has settled.

MEETING WITH BIDEN AND HARRIS AND CAPITOL SESSION

Just half an hour earlier, the Ukrainian president had landed at Joint Base Andrews, on the outskirts of Washington, aboard a US Air Force plane, as Zelenski himself has confirmed on his official channel on the Telegram social network. .

The Ukrainian president plans to hold a meeting with Biden and the vice president of the United States, Kamala Harris, in which, according to the communication spokesman for the National Security Council, John Kirby, they will address economic and military issues, as well as a hypothetical peace with Russia.

Next, both leaders will hold a joint press conference and, later, Zelenski will travel to the Capitol to intervene in a joint session of the Senate and the House of Representatives.

The visit, which did not materialize until the last moment and has been kept secret for security reasons, coincides with the Biden Administration's announcement to provide Ukraine with a military aid package valued at 1.85 billion dollars and which includes Patriot missiles. .