On the front line Tuesday, at the Capitol Wednesday: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who traveled to Bakhmout, an eastern city ravaged by intense fighting, on Tuesday, is expected in Washington on Wednesday for his first international trip since the start of the war.
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This would coincide with a major military meeting around Vladimir Putin: the Russian president indeed wants to draw the conclusions of the past year on Wednesday and set the objectives of his army for 2023.
According to several American media announcing this visit, for the moment without official confirmation, Volodymyr Zelensky might address the American Congress and meet Joe Biden at the White House.
During his trip to the front on Tuesday, the Ukrainian president received a flag signed by fighters and said: “We are going to give it to the American Congress, to the American president. We are grateful for their support, but it is not enough.”
– Special session of Congress – In a letter dated Tuesday, the leader of the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, “encourages” parliamentarians to be “physically present” Wednesday evening for a session “particularly devoted to democracy”.
US parliamentarians are preparing to vote on a new massive package of support for Ukraine, of nearly 45 billion dollars.
US President Joe Biden is expected to give the green light to sending Patriot missiles, a particularly sophisticated air defense system, to Ukraine.
Volodymyr Zelensky, who has not left Ukraine since the invasion by Russia on February 24, would therefore reserve his first visit to the United States, leader of the international response and by far the first donors to kyiv.
This aid is estimated by experts at nearly 50 billion, including 20 billion in arms and military assistance.
– From the battlefield to the Capitol – If this trip, which one imagines what immense security constraints it entails, is confirmed, the Ukrainian president would pass in a few hours from the battlefields to the precincts of the Capitol, seat of the American Congress.
By going to Bakhmout on Tuesday, for a surprise visit closer to the clashes, he had already challenged his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.
The Ukrainian head of state “met soldiers, spoke with them” on the spot, said the press service of the presidency, without further details.
A video broadcast by Ukrainian state channel Freedom showed him taking a photo of himself alongside soldiers in a building and giving them medals.
“You protect all of Ukraine. It’s not just Bakhmout, it’s the Bakhmout fortress”, he told the soldiers.
He has already visited several times near the front, but this visit to Bakhmout appears to be the most risky of his trips, the Russian forces being at the gates of this city.
“Eastern Fortress”
Troops from Moscow have been trying since the summer to seize it. Ravaged by fighting, Bakhmout had around 70,000 inhabitants before the Russian invasion.
If the Russian soldiers claimed the conquest of villages and areas located at the very end of Bakhmout, the Ukrainian forces seem to control the city and part of its surroundings.
Vladimir Putin, for his part, appeared on television on Tuesday handing out decorations inside the Kremlin walls in Moscow to soldiers and pro-Russian separatist leaders from eastern Ukraine.
“Our country has repeatedly faced challenges and defended its sovereignty. Today, Russia is once more facing the same challenge,” he said.
During a large meeting planned around him on Wednesday, involving 15,000 officials, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu will notably report on “the progress of the special military operation” in Ukraine.
“Extremely difficult” situation
After a series of Russian military setbacks in northeastern and southern Ukraine, most of the fighting is currently concentrated in the east of the country.
Russia has opted from October for massive bombardments on Ukrainian infrastructure, which cause power and water cuts.
Vladimir Putin admitted on Tuesday that the situation was “extremely difficult” in the four regions of southern and eastern Ukraine which Moscow claims to annex without having completely conquered them.
A high-ranking officer in the Ukrainian army, General Sergey Nayev, for his part, claimed to see an “increase in the level of threat” of a potential Russian attack from neighboring Belarus, as was the case in the first days of conflict.
Vladimir Putin traveled to Belarus on Monday for talks with his counterpart and ally Alexander Lukashenko.
