The Zelensky War on the War with Ukraine: The Unfinished Business of the U.S.-Russia Relationship Against Crimes in Ukraine

When Zelensky arrives to the White House, he will meet for lengthy talks with Biden, along with key members of the US national security team. The official said Biden and Zelensky would engage in an “in-depth strategic discussion on the way ahead on the battlefield,” along with the training and capabilities Western partners are providing Ukraine, the sanctions they have imposed on Russia and economic and energy assistance to the Ukrainian people.

“(Biden) will reinforce the fundamental message on this trip to President Zelensky directly – to the Ukrainian people, the American people and the world publicly – that the United States will stand with Ukraine for as long as it takes,” a senior administration official said.

The US has provided security assistance to Ukraine amounting to over 20 billion dollars since the start of Russia’s invasion of the country.

As of a Department of Defense briefing in late September, the US had yet to deliver NASAMS to Ukraine. At the time, Brig. Gen. Patrick Ryder said two systems were expected to be delivered in the next two months, with the remaining six to arrive at an undetermined date.

The general staff of the armed forces of Ukraine said in a post that there were 84 cruise missiles launched by Russia against targets in the country.

Russian President Putin said that it was a response to terrorism by the people of Kyiv. He referred to the explosion on the bridge and a list of other alleged “crimes” that he blamed on the Ukrainian special services.

Russia’s military and political leadership have, however, an arsenal of missiles that can and are regularly fired at Ukraine, and a barrage timed for a presidential visit would be within Russia’s capabilities. Zelensky might be distracted from his visit by this particular matter or it may signal to US officials that Russia has something to respond to the U.S.-Ukrainian relationship.

The Zelensky administration is facing a complex path because of all this and the fact that victory in the Ukrainians’ eyes is part of the definition of victory. For the time being, and true to form, the tough guy from Kryvyi Rih shows no sign of backing down.

John Kirby said Monday that there will be additional support packages announced forUkraine soon.

“It’s clear that he’s feeling the pressure both at home and overseas, and how he reacts to that only he can say,” Kirby told CNN’s Kate Bolduan on “Erin Burnett OutFront.”

Last week, Biden delivered a stark warning about the dangers of Putin’s nuclear threats, invoking the prospect of “Armageddon.” But multiple US officials have said the comment was not based on any new intelligence about Putin’s intentions or changes in Russia’s nuclear posture.

But Milley’s position is not widely backed by President Joe Biden’s national security team, including Secretary of State Antony Blinken and national security adviser Jake Sullivan, neither of whom believe it’s time to make a serious push for talks over Ukraine, according to two administration officials familiar with the discussion.

The result is a growing debate within the administration over whether Ukraine’s recent gains should lead to a renewed effort to get a negotiated end to the fighting.

In a major victory for Ukraine that Zelensky called “the beginning of the end of the war,” Russian forces abandoned Kherson to avoid a battlefield rout. The invasion launched by Putin in February just days after the meeting with the Chinese leader was successful for the Western-backed Ukrainians.

Administration officials were unsurprised by the comments, as they expressed their concern over the administration appearing divided in the eyes of the Kremlin.

According to sources, most of the top diplomats and national security officials think Ukrainians should decide when to hold talks, not the US, even though some Biden officials like to explore the idea of what diplomacy may look like.

In internal deliberations, officials said Milley has sought to make it clear that he is not urging a Ukrainian capitulation, but rather that he believes now is an optimal time to drive toward an end to the war before it drags into spring or beyond, leading to more death and destruction without changing the front lines.

The view that it’s held across the administration. The State Department is on the opposite side of the pole from Milley according to an official. The situation is unique because the military brass are more interested in diplomacy than US diplomats.

As the US military has dug deep into its weapons stockpiles to support the Ukrainians and is now scrambling the globe for material to aid them, officials are worried about how long this war will last.

The US intends to buy 100,000 rounds of artillery ammunition from South Korean arms manufacturers to provide to Ukraine, a US official said, part of a broader effort to find available weaponry for the high-intensity battles unfolding in Ukraine. As part of the deal, the US will purchase 100,000 rounds of 155mm howitzer ammunition, which will then be transferred to Ukraine through the US.

After Pelosi’s Visit to China, President Biden vs. Chinese Prime Minister Xi Jinping in Kiev: A diplomatic solution to the Ukraine crisis?

Ned Price would not say if the State Department agrees with Milley. Instead, Price deflected to a position that US officials have often made in recent months: the US sides with Zelensky who has said that a diplomatic solution is needed.

Moscow needs to show that it’s ready to negotiate, that it’s willing to sit down and engage in good faith with Ukraine, and that they’re ready to do so.

“We know that the days ahead, the conflict will continue,” the senior administration official said. We will continue supporting the Ukrainian people through the winter, because it will be hard.

President Joe Biden’s meeting with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping on Monday may last only a few hours, but could have consequences stretching months or even years as the world’s largest economies veer toward increasingly hostile relations.

Biden hopes coming face-to-face again after nearly two years communicating only by phone and video-conference can yield a more strategically valuable result, even if he enters the talks with little expectation they can produce anything concrete.

Relations have deteriorated rapidly amid economic disputes and an increasingly militarized standoff over Taiwan. The countries used to share interests like fighting climate change and containing North Korea’s nuclear program, but tensions have led to a decline in cooperation.

The document that was released last month by Biden identified China as America’s most consequential nuclear challenge, and he said the country was attempting to remake the international order.

There was almost no expectation among American officials that any of those issues could be resolved simply by getting Biden and Xi in the same room. It was not possible for a joint statement to be released after.

Beijing cut off most communication channels after Pelosi visited Taiwan, requiring US and Chinese officials to establish lines of communication just to arrange the meeting.

“Every matter associated with this meeting, from phone calls to logistics, has been very carefully considered, negotiated, and engaged between the two sides,” a senior US administration official said.

“I won’t say that the conversations weren’t contentious because obviously there’s lots of areas where we have differences and challenges,” the official said. There are many issues we have talked to our Chinese counterparts about.

For his part, Biden takes meetings like this “incredibly seriously” and reads extensively beforehand. In meetings with advisers, he runs through different scenarios for the meeting.

“He goes through ‘if this happens, then should we handle it this way,’” the first official said. “He understands that this is, in many respects, the most important bilateral relationship. And it’s his responsibility to manage it well and he takes that very, very seriously.”

Officials said in Monday’s meeting they expected Biden’s senior-most advisers to accompany him as part of his official delegation. The US team expected to see some new faces on the Chinese side in the meeting, despite an ongoing transition inside the inner circle of China’s president.

Biden’s aides have not set a time limit for the meeting, though Jake Sullivan, the US national security adviser, said he expected the talks to run “a couple hours” but could extend longer.

The White House has used a phrase called “building a floor” to describe the goal of the talks, suggesting both that Biden wants to stop the falling relations between the two countries and he sees the potential for improvement.

In Cambodia, where Biden is attending an Asian summit, the vice president told reporters that they had to figure out what the most important things were going into the next two years.

Xi, Sullivan and the First Face-to-Face Meeting: The Challenges of China’s Recovery from the Pandemic

And yet Xi faces a mountain of daunting problems. The economy has slowed down so much that China is reluctant to reveal economic data. China’s Covid-19 vaccine, once a tool of global diplomacy, is a disappointment. China is imposing a series of strictures as the rest of the world slowly recovers from the Pandemic.

The White House was expecting Biden to enter the talks last week but he did not, due to Democratic losses in the elections. But better-than-expected results for Democrats left the president feeling as if he was entering his meetings this week with the wind at his back, according to top aides.

China’s pandemic-era isolation, US officials say, had made it relatively harder in recent years to get a read on Beijing’s intentions abroad as Xi declined to travel outside of China – but they believe that is all about to change.

The senior administration said they can expect them to be more assertive. But, they added: “What that looks like is difficult to know right now.”

Sullivan said this week that the first meeting with Biden has been replaced by a face to face meeting and it takes the conversation to a different level and gives the leader a chance to see what their intentions are.

U.S. Presidential Presidency in the First Two Years of World War II: The Case for the Russian Invasion of Kherson

Editor’s Note: Frida Ghitis, a former CNN producer and correspondent, is a world affairs columnist. She is a weekly opinion contributor to CNN, a contributing columnist to The Washington Post and a columnist for World Politics Review. The views expressed in this commentary are her own. View more opinion on CNN.

It is unlikely that a well- functioning democracy in the US will be of any help to Xi and other autocrats who are hoping that the country’s deep divisions can be proof that democracy is not as good as they think it is. The midterms brought the American President to the table with a stronger hand to play.

That’s not the only reason, however, why this was the perfect moment — from the standpoint of the United States and for democracy — for this meeting to occur: There’s much more to this geopolitical moment than who controls the US House of Representatives and Senate.

As Biden and Xi were meeting, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky made an emotional, triumphant return to the devastated, now liberated city of Kherson, the one provincial capital that Russian invaders had conquered.

In the first days and weeks of the Russian full-scale invasion, a Russian attack intended to take advantage of the leader’s absence might have stirred confusion in the Ukrainian military. There have been no questions about the command and control of the military since the war began.

The world’s most powerful autocrats looked unstoppable even. Meanwhile, Western democracies appeared unsettled, roiled by sometimes violent protests against Covid-19 restrictions. Putin was preparing for triumph in Ukraine. The Olympics were being held and preparing to solidify his control of China.

As the Ukrainians defended their country with unexpected determination, Biden rallied allies in a muscular push to support them.

Putin avoided confrontations with world leaders at the G20 summit because he is becoming a pariah on the global stage.

The epochal war between China and Russia: Joe Biden’s third term as a dictator, the failure of democracy, Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine and the role of the United Arab Emirates

The other leader is not the only one with a strong hand. The third term for Chinas leader, Xi, gives him the power to rule as long as he wants. He doesn’t have to worry about elections, about a critical press or a vociferous opposition party. He is essentially the absolute ruler of a mighty country for many years to come.

Also crucial in the epochal competition between the two systems is showing that democracy works, defeating efforts of autocratic countries such as China and Russia to discredit it and proving that unprovoked wars of aggression, aimed at suppressing democracy and conquering territory, will not succeed.

There is no getting around the potential implications of the steps that Biden took, which followed earlier prisoner swaps with US adversaries conducted by his administration – including for an American and former US marine detained in Russia, Trevor Reed – and those of former presidents Barack Obama and Donald Trump. There is a chance that if Washington is open for business, other rogue nations or groups may see Americans as valuable targets in a vicious cycle of more imprisonments.

But President Joe Biden’s decision to exchange WNBA star Brittney Griner for Viktor Bout goes beyond the exchange’s bottom line. It represented a humane resolution to a painful dilemma that came after tortuous talks with a Russian regime that treats people as geopolitical pawns every day. In that sense, the Biden administration demonstrated the gulf between its moral grounding and that of Russian President Vladimir Putin who is currently demonstrating his inhumanity on another front, with a fearsome assault on Ukrainian civilians.

The moral dilemma he faced was underscored by the failure to secure the release of Paul Whelan, another American prisoner in a Russian penal colony. It led top Republicans to charge that he had prioritized a basketball star over a former Marine who benefited from a political campaign against Biden.

In addition, Saudi Arabia aided in facilitating the exchange with the United Arab Emirate and also helped in securing the release of US citizens captured fighting in Ukranian. It is not clear if the kingdom, which has relations with both Moscow and Washington and is trying to increase its leadership role, will emerge as an advocate of mediation in the dispute over Ukraine. Biden will be traveling to Saudi Arabia earlier this year to greet its ruthless Crown Prince Mohammed bin Laden with a fistbump, if his recent smoothing of US-Russia exchanges is any indication.

Ultimately, it’s impossible for there not to be a sour aftertaste when dealing with an adversary as inhumane as Putin. But it is the job of a president to weigh these competing dynamics within the context of America’s national goals and duty to its citizens.

“This is a precarious situation that needs to be resolved quickly,” a deeply disappointed Whelan told CNN’s State Department producer Jennifer Hansler in an exclusive phone interview. “I would hope that (Biden) and his administration would do everything they could to get me home, regardless of the price they might have to pay at this point.”

Whelan isn’t the only American imprisoned in Russia. The family of the teacher from the US called on the White House to negotiate his release after he was sentenced to 14 years in prison. Fogel’s attorney said that Fogel used cannabis for medical purposes after he traveled into Moscow with it.

This adds another challenge for Biden since it involves another government and could require the German Chancellor to agree to supersede his country’s own legal system. The capacity of the new German leader to do so and the kind of Russian concession Berlin might require are unclear.

The US needs to give the Russians something more different than what they’ve offered so far according to a senior administration official.

While Biden is being berated by some people for doing a bad deal, the administration insists that he got the best deal on the table.

“I want to be very clear – this was not a situation where we had a choice of which American to bring home. A senior administration official told reporters that it was a choice between bringing home one American, such as Brittany, or no American at all.

Evelyn Farkas, a former deputy assistant secretary of defense, told CNN she thought Putin was never going to hand over Whelan and all along wanted to swap only Griner for Bout.

She said that there was some hope for Whelan because of the Griner exchange, which showed that the Russians cared about their interests.

The fierce political divides that now challenge every US foreign policy decision did not take long to bubble over after Griner was freed – alongside a more vicious reaction on social media as some conservatives questioned her patriotism.

The administration’s decision to give priority to a celebrity over a veteran is what the Republican lawmaker from Florida said in his post.

The challenge this brings is that these regimes are aware of this. This is how the president traded five Citgo executives who were lured to Venezuela to be arrested for his nephews who are convicted drug traffickers.

The Iranians, Taliban, and Putin are all taking Americans hostage in order to get us to make concessions. When do we start dictating the terms to these regimes?”

Whelan’s family reacted with great dignity in welcoming Griner’s release, despite their devastation that their brother did not come home. According to Elizabeth, hostile foreign countries are trying to stir dissent in the US by using the case of hostages abroad.

“We tend to always look at what is Russia getting out of this? … A wrongly arrested American is going back home. It is something to celebrate.

Michael Bociurkiw is a global affairs analyst who is based in Odesa. He is a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council and a former spokesman for the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. He was a regular contributor to CNN. The opinions expressed in this commentary are his own. CNN has more opinion.

It was 2019. And the successful TV comedian turned commander in chief had traveled to Paris for a summit to negotiate a peace deal with Putin. Zelensky walked away despite the doubts of many.

The lysée Palace was seen in Paris at the time by Zelensky who drove a small car and Putin who had a limo. The host, French President, hugged Putin, but then shook hands with Zelensky.

Beyond the man himself, there is Zelensky the brand. It’s nearly impossible to deny that the Ukrainian leader is wearing olive green t-shirts when meeting people from all walks of life.

Zelensky, the international personification of Ukrainian resistance, in the midst of a decade of wartime: The nightclub where Petro Petrovytsky took off

Failure to demonstrate more progress on the battlefield with billions of dollars worth of military kit could stir unease among Western backers. But capitulation to Russia would be a political death sentence.

Over the course of the 10-month invasion, Zelensky has emerged as the international personification of Ukrainian resistance and has spent much of the year appealing to nations for support. He stayed inside his country for the duration of the war because he wanted to rally around his country, and because he was worried about the situation outside of his country.

“After the full-scale invasion, once he got into a position of being bullied by someone like Vladimir Putin he knew exactly what he needed to do because it was just his gut feeling,” Yevhen Hlibovytsky, former political journalist and founder of the Kyiv-based think tank and consultancy, pro.mova, told me.

This, after all, is the leader who when offered evacuation by the US as Russia launched its full-scale invasion, quipped: “I need ammunition, not a ride.”

It all seems a long way since the campaign celebration where Zelensky thanked his supporters for a landslide victory in a transformed nightclub in the middle of war. Standing on stage among the fluttering confetti, he looked in a state of disbelief at having defeated incumbent veteran politician Petro Poroshenko.

His ratings seem to have improved as a result of the war. Just days after the invasion, Zelensky’s ratings approval surged to 90%, and remain high to this day. Zelensky was ahead of US President Joe Biden in the Americans’ judgement for his handling of international affairs.

His bubble includes many people from his previous professional life as a TV comedian in the theatrical group Kvartal 95. In the midst of the war a press conference was held on the platform of a metro station, and it featured good lighting and camera angles to emphasize a wartime setting.

During air raid sirens and explosions in the city, his nightly televised addresses brought solace, as he was comforter in chief.

Zelensky: What Happens when the World is Unified? a Conversation with Chrisman-Campbell, a Fashion historian, and Author

“By wearing T-shirts and hoodies, the youthful, egalitarian uniform of Silicon Valley, rather than suits, Zelensky is projecting confidence and competence in a modern way, to a younger, global audience that recognizes it as such,” Kimberly Chrisman-Campbell, a fashion historian and author of “Red, White, and Blue on the Runway: The 1968 White House Fashion Show and the Politics of American Style,” told NPR.

“He is probably more comfortable than Putin on camera, too, both as an actor and as a digital native,” she added. Zelensky is doing a better job of balancing authority with accessibility, as I believe they both want to come across as personable.

Journeying to where her husband can’t, Zelenska has shown herself to be an effective communicator in international fora – projecting empathy, style and smarts. She met with King Charles during a visit to a refugee assistance center which was located at the Holy Family Cathedral in London. Zelenska was not pictured on the cover of Time magazine, but she did get a mention in the supporting text.

There are small signs that Zelensky’s international influence may be waning. For example, last week, in what analysts called a pivotal moment in geopolitics, the G7 imposed a $60 a barrel price cap on Russian crude – despite pleas from Zelensky that it should have been set at $30 in order to inflict more pain on the Kremlin.

Within Ukraine, the economy continues to stumble from the impact of war and persistent missile and drone attacks on critical power infrastructure – including at least 76 strikes on Friday. As winter bites, millions of Ukrainians are enduring long periods without heat, electricity and water. Ukrainians have displayed resilience since the beginning of the war, and many say that they are willing to endure hardship for another two to five years if it means defeating Russia.

Zelensky said in a recent video address that the world is not the cause of events, but what happens when the world is united.

The administration official said it was something they had wanted to do for a while after Russia began its invasion. The US would not stop Zelensky from going because of Russia’s actions, and there was no mathematical formula for the right day for him to leave.

The new, $1.8 billion package Biden will unveil includes a Patriot surface-to-air missile system, which has been a longstanding request of Ukraine’s to fend of Russian air attacks. CNN first reported that the US was planning to send the system to Ukraine.

He’s delivered those appeals virtually, beaming into international summits and global legislatures to make his case for more weapons and funding. He has remained inside his country for the duration of the war, a reflection both of his desire to rally his besieged country and the precarious security situation he would face outside Ukraine.

Zelensky presented awards to soldiers, according to his office. Video posted by state TV showed the president clad in fatigues and a flak vest presenting awards to troops. After Russian forces launched their assault on the city in May, it was turned into ruins.

Zelensky’s visit to the US ten months after the first Russian invasion of Ukraine: the fate of a trip to the United States

An unusual session of Congress was reported to be in the works. Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California earlier on Tuesday sent a letter to all House lawmakers asking them to attend the Wednesday night session in person, even though lawmakers retain the ability to vote remotely.

Zelensky will address Congress on Wednesday, according to several sources. But the sources caution that this may not be final yet over security concerns.

A Patriot missile battery would be the most effective long-range defensive weapons system sent to the country and officials say it will help secure airspace for NATO nations in eastern Europe. CNN first reported last week that the US was planning to send Patriot systems to Ukraine.

The exact number of missiles that will be sent is unknown, but it is possible that up to eight ready-to-fire missiles will be held at the engagement control station.

Once the plans are finalized, the US will teach Ukrainians how to use them in a US base in Germany, officials said.

Smaller air defense systems require fewer people to properly operate them, whereas the Patriot missiles batteries require larger crews. The training for the missiles normally takes many months but the US will now have to contend with frequent aerial attacks from Russia.

The visit by the Ukrainian leader to Washington, expected to last only a matter of hours, nonetheless amounts to a remarkable moment 10 months since Russia’s war in Ukraine began.

Zelensky, who the official said was “very keen” to visit the US, determined those parameters met his needs, and the US set to work executing them. The trip was confirmed on Sunday.

The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to the threat of Mr. Zelensky, warned that plans were not final and could change. The risks involved in such a visit — with the wartime leader leaving his country for the first time since Russia invaded Ukraine — are high, and tight secrecy would surround any such effort.

The Boebert-Boebert Argument: Military and Humanitarian Aid is Needed in the US Against the Decline of the Budget

The appearance would mark a potentially historic moment as Democrats control the House, with Republicans set to take over in January.

In the potentially uncomfortable position of opposing aid even as the Ukrainian leader, the Republicans on Capitol Hill would be put in a position of not wanting to allow a government shutdown later this week.

The Republicans in the House object to military and humanitarian assistance because they think it’s better spent in the US. Just earlier on Tuesday, Representative Lauren Boebert of Colorado, a far-right Republican, posted on Twitter scoffing at the release of the new aid.

What should we consider before using anonymous sources in the New York Times? — An overview of the re-visited version of The Times

What we consider before using anonymous sources. Do the sources know what’s happening? What is the motivation for telling us? Have they proved reliable in the past? Can we corroborate the information? An anonymous source is used as a last resort by The Times. The reporter and at least one editor know the identity of the source.