Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is expected to visit the White House and U.S. Capitol on Wednesday, several media outlets are reporting, though those plans could be called off at any time for security reasons.
Punchbowl News was the first to report the first known visit by Zelenskyy since Russian forces invaded Ukraine, February 24. All of the media outlets cited anonymous sources.
The Ukrainian president is expected to meet with President Joe Biden and address a joint session of Congress. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi informed members that there would be a Wednesday night session of Congress.
“We are ending a very special session of the 117th Congress with legislation that makes progress for the American people as well as support for our Democracy,” Pelosi wrote Tuesday in a letter to colleagues. “Please be present for a very special focus on Democracy Wednesday night.”
U.S. lawmakers are to vote on a budget this week that includes $45 billion in emergency funding for Ukraine.
Earlier Tuesday, Zelenskyy visited the eastern city of Bakhmut, where the two countries' forces have engaged in some of the most intense fighting.
In a video released by his office from that visit, Zelenskyy was handed a Ukrainian flag and alluded to delivering it to U.S. leaders.
“The guys handed over our beautiful Ukrainian flag with their signatures for us to pass on,” Zelenskyy said in the video. “We are not in an easy situation. The enemy is increasing its army. Our people are braver and need more powerful weapons. We will pass it on from the boys to the Congress, to the president of the United States. We are grateful for their support, but it is not enough. It is a hint — it is not enough.”
Both Zelenskyy and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, praised the courage of their respective troops on Tuesday.
Zelenskyy met with military personnel in a dimly lit building and praised the "courage, resilience and strength" of Ukrainian troops as artillery boomed in the background.
Putin hailed the "courage and self-denial" of his forces in Ukraine, but his statement came at a ceremony in an opulent and glittering hall at the Kremlin in Moscow.
Zelenskyy called Bakhmut, about 600 kilometers east of Kyiv, "the hottest spot on the entire front line," but it has remained under Ukrainian control. It was not clear how he got to Bakhmut.
"Bakhmut Fortress. Our people. Unconquered by the enemy. Who with their bravery prove that we will endure and will not give up what's ours," he wrote on his Telegram channel.
"Since May, the occupiers have been trying to break our Bakhmut, but time goes by and Bakhmut is already breaking not only the Russian army, but also the Russian mercenaries who came to replace the wasted army of the occupiers," he said.
At the Kremlin, Putin presented awards to the Moscow-appointed heads of four regions of Ukraine that Russia illegally annexed in September. Most countries throughout the world do not recognize Russia’s proclaimed takeover.
"Our country has often faced challenges and defended its sovereignty," Putin said. "Now, Russia is again facing such challenge. Soldiers, officers and volunteers are showing outstanding examples of courage and self-denial on the front line."
In a video address released before Tuesday's ceremony, Putin praised the security personnel deployed to the four regions, saying that "people living there, Russian citizens, count on being protected by you."
"Your duty is to do all that is needed to ensure their safety and protection of rights and freedoms," Putin said. The regions are under attack from a Ukrainian counteroffensive, but Putin promised to reinforce units there with more equipment and personnel. Russia has never fully controlled any of the four areas that were part of his September annexation claim.
Putin also ordered Russia’s top security agency, the FSB, to boost surveillance at the country’s borders and within the country to combat new threats from abroad and traitors at home.
His comments came a day after he made a rare visit to Minsk, extolling the benefits of cooperation with neighboring ally Belarus, stoking fears in Kyiv that plans for a joint ground offensive are in the works.
Ukrainian joint forces commander Serhiy Nayev said he believed Putin's meeting with his Belarusian counterpart would address "further aggression against Ukraine and the broader involvement of the Belarusian armed forces in the operation against Ukraine, in particular, in our opinion, also on the ground."