Ukraine-Russia Conflict: President Volodymyr Zelenskyy likely to meet Joe Biden during his upcoming US visit: Reports
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is expected to visit the US next week and meet president Joe Biden, American media reports said.
Biden plans to host Zelenskyy at the White House. The two are both slated to be in New York to attend the annual U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday and Wednesday, making Thursday the most likely target for their meeting in Washington, D.C, reports CBS News.
According to media reports, the Ukrainian top leader is scheduled to visit the country at a time when Congress is debating President Joe Biden’s request to provide $24 billion in military and humanitarian aid for Ukraine as it continues its fight against Russian invasion.
Joe Biden, last month, had called on Congress to send another $ 24 billion to war-ravaged Ukraine.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited Ukraine recently when he announced the newest aid package amounting to more than $1 billion.
The aid includes depleted uranium tank shells, which the US had previously said would not be sent to Ukraine, reports BBC.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is imposing nearly 100 sanctions on Russian elites and Russia’s industrial base, financial institutions, and technology suppliers as the United States continues to leverage sanctions and economic restrictions to undermine Russia’s capacity to wage its war against Ukraine.
The Department of State also designated more than 70 persons.
The sanctions focus on persons benefiting from, supporting, and sustaining Russia’s brutal war of choice against Ukraine.
“With today’s sanctions, the United States is continuing our relentless work to target Russia’s military supply chains and deprive Putin of the equipment, technology, and services he needs to wage his barbaric war on Ukraine,” said Secretary of the Treasury Janet L. Yellen. “We have also made clear that those individuals and entities who profit from invasion and their proximity to the Kremlin will be held accountable, and today’s actions show our global reach in imposing severe costs on Putin’s oligarchs.”