The president of the United States, Joe Bidenand his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelensky, They met this Thursday at the White House with the aim of coordinating a plan to accelerate the delivery of weapons to Ukraine before the American leader leaves office in January 2025.
The two leaders made brief statements to the press in the Oval Office before beginning the meeting, which occurred just a few hours after the White House announced a new military aid package Ukraine valued at 8 billion of dollars, which includes bombs capable of hitting Russian targets 130 kilometers away. “Russia will not win. Ukraine will win and we will continue to support you every step of the way,” Biden promised Zelensky, who was wearing his usual olive green military attire.
The American president has offered details of that aid package, which contains military assistance previously approved by Congress and that will be delivered to Ukraine before a new president takes office, after the elections of November 5 in which the vice president will face each other Kamala Harris and the former president and Republican candidate, donald trump. “By the time my term ends, which is on January 20, we will have strengthened Ukraine’s position in future negotiations,” Biden said.
The strategy of USA has been to strengthen Ukraine in the war against Russia in the face of the possibility of negotiations in the future, with the aim that kyiv has a solid position and can make as few concessions as possible.
Also with Harris
One of the requests that Zelensky will make to Biden and that he has been raising for months is the authorization of the use of long-range missiles American or made with American components so that kyiv can attack targets inside Russia, to which Washington resists for fear of provoking an escalation with Moscow. “Today we will discuss the details of this plan and how to coordinate our positions, their use and approach. Our teams will work together to ensure the implementation of our future steps,” Zelensky said.
In a press conference prior to the meeting, White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre stated that Biden is not expected to make any announcement this Thursday about authorizing Ukraine for the use of missiles. This is the eleventh meeting between Biden and Zelensky, and the fifth visit of the Ukrainian president to Washington since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, in February 2022. Zelensky plans later meet with Vice President Harriswith whom he will make statements to the press.
