Zelenskiy Brings 'Victory Plan' To White House Meeting With Biden, Harris
According to RFE/RL, U.S. President Joe Biden welcomed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to the White House on September 26 after announcing billions in military aid for Kyiv, insisting again that Russia "will not prevail" in its invasion of Ukraine.
Zelenskiy presented Biden with what he has referred to as his "victory plan" and again requested that the United States lift restrictions on the use of long-range weapons it has provided to strike deep inside Russia at military targets.
"Russia will not prevail. Ukraine will prevail, and we'll continue to stand by you every step of the way," Biden said as he hosted Zelenskiy in the Oval Office after thanking him for presenting his plan.
"We deeply appreciate that Ukraine and America have stood side by side," said Zelenskiy, dressed in a dark green military-style outfit.
Zelenskiy also met with Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic Party's nominee for president, later at the White House and shared his "victory plan" with her.
Harris told Zelenskiy that her support for the people of Ukraine was unwavering.
"The Ukrainian people are bravely defending their homes and their homeland, their freedom and their democracy against a brutal dictator," Harris told Zelenskiy at the White House.
She also said that calls for Ukraine to cede territory to Russia were "dangerous and unacceptable." She added that suggestions from Republican candidate Donald Trump and his running mate, Senator J.D. Vance (Republican-Ohio), that Ukraine should cut a deal to end the war were not proposals for peace but "proposals for surrender."
Trump has said Ukraine should have made concessions to Putin in the months before Russia's invasion. At a campaign rally in North Carolina on September 25 he said, "Any deal -- the worst deal -- would’ve been better than what we have now."
Biden earlier on September 26 announced more than $8 billion in military aid for Kyiv and repeated in a statement that the United States will "provide Ukraine with the support it needs to win this war."
The package includes for the first time a system called Joint Standoff Weapon -- a precision-guided glide bomb with a range of up to 130 kilometers launched from fighter aircraft -- as well as an additional Patriot air-defense battery and hundreds more Patriot missiles and AMRAAMs (advanced medium-range air-to-air missiles).
Biden, who is leaving office in January, said the training for Ukrainian F-16 pilots in the United States will also be expanded, including the training of an additional 18 pilots next year.
He said Washington and its partners were taking steps to disrupt a global crypto currency network used by Russia to evade sanctions and launder money, without elaborating.
Biden added he has called a top-level meeting of the 50 or so members of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group in Germany next month to better coordinate efforts to back Ukraine's defense against Russian aggression.
