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What Zelenskyy's Washington trip signalled in December 2022
Summary
A look back at the Ukrainian president's first trip abroad since the full-scale invasion, and the events around it.
What did it mean for Ukraine's president to leave the country for the first time since the invasion? By 22 December 2022, the answer was being read from a short but dense visit to Washington, D.C. the previous day.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy, President of Ukraine, arrived in the United States on 21 December 2022, on his first official trip abroad after the Russian invasion. The visit lasted about ten hours. He met US President Joe Biden, held a joint press conference and addressed a joint session of the US Congress.
Aid announced ahead of the trip
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced a US$1.85 billion military aid package for Ukraine ahead of the visit. The sequence placed military support at the centre of the Ukraine–United States relationship on the day of the trip.
Shelling in Donetsk
The same day, the war continued on the other side. Shelling hit a hotel and a restaurant in Donetsk, killing two people and injuring five. Among the injured, as reported at the time, were Dmitry Rogozin, a former Russian Deputy Prime Minister and head of Roscosmos, and Vitaliy Khotsenko, Prime Minister of the Donetsk People's Republic.
The two events were separate, and the reports do not link them. Together they show how 21 December 2022 combined high-level diplomacy in Washington with continued fighting in Donetsk.
