WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky are expected to meet at the White House on Wednesday as Ukraine pushes for increased military aid in its war with Russia as well as entry into NATO.
In a call with reporters on Monday, a senior administration official said Biden would use the meeting to “convey his ironclad commitment to Ukraine’s security, sovereignty and Euro-Atlantic aspirations, as well as to discuss Ukraine’s ongoing reform program.”
Biden and Zelensky are scheduled to meet at 2 p.m. ET and will release a joint statement outlining their conclusions afterward, the official said.
The meeting comes as Ukraine is seeking greater support from Washington seven years after Russia annexed Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula and backed separatists in the eastern part of the country. The war has killed roughly 14,000 people, despite a series of shaky ceasefires.
This year, Russia increased the number of troops along its eastern border and in Crimea, raising concern in both Washington and Kyiv.
Zelensky has expressed frustration over Western allies’ hesitation to approve Ukraine’s bid to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization — which Zelensky has argued would give Ukraine greater protection from Russia — and has disagreed with Biden’s comments that the country needs to “clean up corruption” before it can be considered for membership.
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Zelensky has also been critical of the Biden administration’s decision not to block the construction of Russia’s Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline to Germany, which will directly connect Russia to Europe and bypass Ukraine. Zelensky is expected to make another appeal to Biden on Wednesday to intervene with the pipeline.
Ahead of their meeting, Biden announced that the U.S. would give an additional $60 million in military aid to Ukraine. The U.S. has committed $2.5 billion in support of Ukraine forces since the war broke out in 2014, including more than $400 million this year.
The meeting between the two leaders was initially scheduled for earlier this week but was delayed as the Biden administration was focused on the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan.
Zelensky, a former TV comedian who ran for president as a political novice on a campaign promise to weed out corruption, became entangled in the 2019 impeachment inquiry into then-President Donald Trump. Trump was accused of abusing his power in a phone call to Zelensky pressuring him to open an investigation into Biden.
As vice president, Biden was the point person on Ukraine in the Obama administration and pushed the country to take a tougher stance on graft and corruption.
Zelensky had been open about his hopes to meet with Biden before he sat down with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Geneva in June. Biden spoke to Zelensky over the phone before the Geneva meeting, but the two leaders did not meet in person.
Zelensky is the second European leader to meet with Biden in the Oval Office, following German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
