Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky arrived in the United States for a crucial visit to present Kyiv’s plan to end two and a half years of war with Russia.
Zelensky will present his proposals — which he calls a “victory plan” — to President Joe Biden, as well as presidential hopefuls Kamala Harris and Donald Trump.
The visit comes after a summer of intense fighting: with Moscow advancing fast in eastern Ukraine and Kyiv holding on to swathes of Russia’s Kursk region.
It also comes as Kyiv has for weeks pressed the West to allow it to use long-range weapons to strike targets deep inside Russia — so far to no avail.
When they meet at the White House on Thursday, Zelensky is expected to try to convince Biden to change his mind.
On the first leg of his US visit, Ukraine’s president visited a factory in Pennsylvania on Sunday that produces badly needed 155mm artillery shells.
“I began my visit to the United States by expressing my gratitude to all the employees at the plant,” Zelensky said Sunday in a post on X, formerly Twitter.
The post included photos of him shaking hands with workers at the plant, where he said production had been ramped up.
“It is in places like this where you can truly feel that the democratic world can prevail,” he wrote.
He will next travel to New York and Washington.
Zelensky said the coming weeks would decide how more than 30 months of fighting that has killed thousands would end.
“It is now being determined what the legacy of the current generation of states leaders will be. Those in the highest offices,” he said.
In comments before his trip, Zelensky said the United States and UK have not given Ukraine permission to use the long-range weapons as they fear escalation, but hinted he had not given up hope.
“We have had some decisions in the history of our relationship with Biden — very interesting and difficult dialogues,” Zelensky said earlier this week, adding: “He later changed his point of view.”
Moscow has said it considers such a go-ahead as NATO countries being “at war” with Russia.
