Ukraine’s First Lady Olena Zelenska met Joe and Jill Biden at the White House
(Picture: AP)First lady of Ukraine Olena Zelenska met Joe and Jill Biden at the White House as she highlighted the human cost of Russia’s war in her country.
Mrs Zelenska is in the US for a series of high-level meetings — four months after her husband, President Volodymyr Zelensky, made a virtual speech to Congress calling for more military equipment.
President Biden handed a large bouquet of flowers to Mrs Zelenska when she got out of her car and the two first ladies hugged. During a private meeting with Dr Biden, Mrs Zelenska shared her concerns for the emotional health of Ukrainian children and they discussed the “need to hold accountable those responsible for war crimes and other atrocities”.
Mrs Zelenska was set to address members of Congress on Capitol Hill on Wednesday.
The White House meeting came after the US warned that Russia plans to annex more Ukrainian territory using a similar “playbook” to its takeover of Crimea. Citing US intelligence, National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said Russia was laying the groundwork for annexation.
He added that occupied regions of Ukraine could hold “sham” referendums on joining Russia as soon as September. Crimea was annexed from Ukraine in 2014 after a referendum widely viewed as illegitimate.
Meanwhile, British defence chiefs said Vladimir Putin’s forces were only making “minimal gains” in his bid to seize the whole of the Donbas region, and Ukrainian troops were “holding the line” against the latest attempted Russian advances.
The Ministry of Defence also said that one of two key bridges used to supply and withdraw Russian soldiers in an area of southern Ukraine had reportedly been damaged in an attack.
The UK, America and other allied countries are in an information war with Russia, so their claims need to be treated in that context. The MoD rarely highlights Ukrainian defeats, instead focusing on the Russian army’s failures.
Russia’s claims about the conflict need to be treated with even greater caution given that the Kremlin does not even admit that there is a war going on in Ukraine.
