Zelenskyy’s surprise visit to Washington was secretly prepared for months

The idea of ​​a wartime trip by Volodymyr Zelenskyy to Washington had been leaking for some time before the surprise visit was revealed just hours before the Ukrainian president’s arrival in the United States.

During an October summit in Zagreb, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi discussed with her counterpart in the Ukrainian parliament the possibility of Zelenskyy running before the US Congress.

Biden administration officials had talked for months with Ukraine about a possible visit by Zelenskyy to the White House, hoping that before the end of the year he would send a clear signal of support ahead of a brutal winter that would deepen the war in the US. Russian President Vladimir Putin.

In previous calls, Zelenskyy had indicated to President Joe Biden and other high-ranking officials that the United States was the first country he wanted to visit when the time was right to travel, according to a US official with knowledge of the talks. So, in a December 11 phone call between the two leaders, Biden reiterated the invitation.

This time, Zelenskyy told Biden that the time was right.

“I really wanted to come earlier. Mr. President knows that, but I couldn’t do it because the situation was so difficult,” Zelenskyy said from the Oval Office on Wednesday. The trip could happen now, the Ukrainian leader said, because “we control the situation and … first of all, thanks to his support.”

The behind-the-scenes details of Zelenskyy’s surprise visit to Washington were described by a Pelosi aide, a US official and a senior administration official, who requested anonymity to describe the planning of the secret trip.

Once planning began, Zelenskyy’s 10-hour visit, which included an Oval Office meeting with Biden, a joint White House press conference and a speech to a largely supportive Congress, came to fruition quickly.

After the two presidents discussed the trip on December 11, the White House extended a formal invitation on December 14, according to the senior administration official. Zelenskyy accepted the invitation on Friday and the visit was confirmed two days later, at which time White House officials notified Pelosi’s office of the Ukrainian leader’s travel plans.

“I am delighted that he was able to make the journey to be here,” Biden told Zelenskyy on Wednesday. “It is an honor to stand by him in united defense against what is a brutal and brutal war that Putin is waging.”

What happened on Wednesday was an elaborate plan executed by US and Ukrainian officials to get Zelenskyy quickly and safely to Washington, his first known trip outside the country’s borders since Russia invaded in February.

The Ukrainian president crossed into Poland early Wednesday, according to Poland’s private broadcaster, TVN24, arriving at a train station in Przemysl, a border town and the arrival point for many refugees fleeing the war. Accompanied by US Ambassador to Ukraine Bridget Brink, Zelenskyy was transported in a US embassy vehicle to an airport in Rzeszów, where he boarded a nonstop flight that landed at Joint Base Andrews shortly after noon Wednesday. .

Zelensky arrived at the Andrews base on a US Air Force jet, a government plane normally used for cabinet secretaries and other dignitaries below the president and vice president. The White House did not publicly announce Zelenskyy’s impending visit until 1 a.m. Wednesday, pending that Zelenskyy was safely out of Ukraine.

Once Zelenskyy landed, Secret Service protection kicked in, as is often the case with visiting heads of state.

The senior administration official said the United States consulted closely with Zelenskyy about his safety and that the Ukrainian president considered it sufficient for him to briefly travel to the United States.

Meanwhile, Pelosi, who had traveled the world in recent months in defense of Ukraine, had also been planting the seeds for months for a speech by Zelenskyy to Congress.

He had been at the Zagreb summit in October at the invitation of Zelenskyy and Ruslan Stefanchuk, the speaker of the Ukrainian parliament. There, Zelenskyy spoke to the audience about “the importance of the free world’s unwavering solidarity with Ukraine,” a speech Pelosi emphasized in his invitation to the Ukrainian president.

Pelosi returned from Croatia and began discussing the idea of ​​a Zelenskyy speech, briefing the other top leaders in Congress: Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Ph. California, and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, about their talks abroad and asking for their support for the Ukrainian leader to visit the Capitol.

On Wednesday, Pelosi, just days away from handing over the leadership to Republican control, finally welcomed Zelenskyy to Capitol Hill, calling it a “profound privilege” and “great pride” at a time when Congress is about to give the green light for an additional $45 billion in emergency aid to Ukraine.

“Her visit comes as Congress prepares to again approve another round of security, economic and humanitarian assistance,” Pelosi told Zelenskyy. “Within the next 48 hours, hopefully, this will be done.”

Before he left Ukraine, there were hints in Zelenskyy’s own words that a surprise trip abroad might be in the works.

On a visit Tuesday to Bakhmut, located in Ukraine’s disputed Donetsk province, Zelenskyy was presented with a Ukrainian flag. He promised then that he would pass the flag “from the boys to Congress, to the President of the United States.”

Standing before the US Congress on Wednesday night, Zelenskyy finally presented the flag, covered with the signatures of Ukrainian troops fighting on the front lines.

“I was asked to bring this flag to the United States Congress, to the members of the House of Representatives and senators whose decisions can save millions of people,” Zelenskyy said in his final words to lawmakers. “Let this flag stay with you. Ladies and gentlemen, this flag is a symbol of our victory in this war.”

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