Sept. 1 (UPI) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who found himself at the center of U.S. politics during former President Donald Trump’s first impeachment trial, will make a long-awaited visit to the White House on Wednesday.
Zelensky will seek President Joe Biden’s support as Ukraine is mired in ongoing fighting with Russian-supported separatists.
The two leaders are scheduled to hold bilateral talks at the White House at 2 p.m. EDT on Wednesday.
“This visit will affirm the United States’ unwavering support for Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity in the face of Russia’s ongoing aggression in the Donbas and Crimea, our close cooperation on energy security, and our backing for President Zelenskyy’s efforts to tackle corruption and implement a reform agenda based on our shared democratic values,” the White House said in a statement.
Fighting between Kiev and separatists led to Russia forcibly annexing Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, which drew widespread condemnation and sanctions by many Western countries, including the United States.
Wednesday’s meeting comes immediately after a completed U.S. withdrawal of forces from Afghanistan after a 20-year presence, which has been politically sensitive to Biden’s administration.
“We are very different from Afghanistan, and we would like to emphasize this,” Tymofiy Mylovanov, an adviser to Zelensky’s chief of staff, said, according to The New York Times. “We are an independent country, not a failed state, and our military has managed to resist the Russians, not the Taliban.”
“We believe this meeting comes at a pivotal moment in the bilateral relationship as we continue to build on ties that bind our two countries together and really seek to take our strategic partnership to an elevated level,” a senior administration official said, according to CNN.
At the behest of ally Germany this past spring, Biden’s government dropped opposition to the Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline from Russia to Germany, allowing Russia to bypass Ukraine.
It was during a telephone phone call in 2019 that Trump pushed Zelensky to investigate now-President Joe Biden, who was a Democratic political rival at the time. The call exploded into a national scandal and led to Trump’s impeachment, though he was ultimately acquitted in the Republican-held Senate.
Zelensky, a foil to Russian President Vladimir Putin, had sought a visit to the White House since he was elected to lead the country in 2019.