Ukrainian First Lady Olena Zelenska declined an invitation to attend President Biden’s State of the Union address on Thursday, citing scheduling conflicts.
The White House had planned to seat Zelenska near Yulia Navalnaya, the widow of late Russian dissident Alexei Navalny, but the plan did not sit well with Ukraine. The Washington Post reported Tuesday.
Despite Navalny being a global symbol of resistance to Russian President Vladimir Putin, his public comments on Ukraine, including his belief The fact that Crimea belongs to Russia complicates his legacy in Kiev.
“Unfortunately, the first lady will not be able to attend due to pre-planned events such as the visit of children from an orphanage to Kiev,” Zelenska’s press secretary Tetyana Hajduchenko said. new york times.
Navalny also declined an invitation to attend Biden’s speech, citing fatigue. Her husband died on February 16th in an Arctic prison under extremely suspicious circumstances.
president biden Called President Putin “responsible” It condemned Navalny’s death and imposed new sanctions on the Kremlin in response.
“Yulia was certainly invited and was considered to go, but I think everyone has forgotten the circumstances in which the incident took place,” Navalnaya spokeswoman Kira Yarmysh told the Washington Post. Told.
“Yulia’s husband died two weeks ago. She travels all the time. Today is the first day she came home. Like any human being, she too will recover. I really appreciate the invitation because I need time, but right now I need to recover at least a little bit.”
Six days after Navalny’s death was announced, President Biden met with Navalny and his daughter Dasha in San Francisco.
Biden’s overture to Zelenska comes as the president seeks to ramp up pressure on Congress to replenish military aid to the war-torn country, which has suffered a severe shortage of ammunition on the battlefield in recent months. Ta.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy visited Washington in December and implored lawmakers to mobilize more aid.
An additional $95 billion package, including about $60 billion in aid to Ukraine, passed the Senate last month but has not been considered in the House.
On Wednesday, Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pennsylvania), co-chair of the Problem Solvers Caucus, introduced a separate Ukraine aid bill in the House of Representatives with plans to bring it to a vote through a parliamentary process known as an expulsion petition. We moved forward with great vigor.
During the State of the Union address, Jill Biden will sit next to Kate Cox, the woman who sued the state of Texas to abort a fetus with a fatal abnormality. The episode received national attention.
The White House and the Ukrainian embassy in Washington did not respond to requests for comment.
Thursday’s speech will be Biden’s third State of the Union address and his last before the Nov. 5 general election.
