Zelenskyy to Meet Biden at the White House

Facts

• Ukrainian Pres. Volodymyr Zelenskyy is expected to visit the White House and Capitol Hill next week, a US official confirmed on Thursday.¹
• Zelenskyy — scheduled to visit the US to deliver his first in-person speech at the UN General Assembly — will also meet UN chief António Guterres, who has pledged to 'do everything possible' to revive the Black Sea grain deal.²
• His appearance coincides with a debate in Congress over Biden's request to provide Ukraine with an additional $24B in military and humanitarian aid.³
• When he visited the US in December, Zelenskyy told Congress that the US money to Ukraine wasn't charity but 'an investment in the global security and democracy that we handle in the most responsible way.'⁴
• However, with an excess of $113B already approved and several Republicans voicing concerns about providing additional funding to Ukraine, Zelenskyy may have a tougher pathway this time.⁴
• Meanwhile, the UN is expected to provide additional humanitarian aid to 11M Ukrainians. According to UN data, 7.3M Ukrainians received humanitarian assistance in the first six months of this year.⁵

Sources: ¹Reuters, ²Daily sabah, ³Guardian, ⁴Al Jazeera and ⁵Ukrinform.

Narratives

• Pro-establishment narrative, as provided by Washington Post. Allowing Russia to triumph in Ukraine will embolden the Kremlin to launch further acts of aggression and encourage America's enemies to do the same. Continuing US funding for Ukraine is squarely in the country's national interest — preventing the spread of undemocratic regimes elsewhere.
• Establishment-critical narrative, as provided by Theweek. The US has not only continued to give Ukraine more money but has sharply escalated the types of weapons it's sending. Such a trend is bringing the world closer and closer to World War III, and we may only know when we've crossed that precipice once it's too late. Now's the time for de-escalation.

Predictions