Zelenskyy’s visit to the United States postponed to August 31: now he’ll meet Biden face to face

The meeting of the President of Ukraine and the President of the United States will take place on August 31. The changes to the plans are due to the fact that the format of the presidential meeting has been expanded and will now include a face-to-face meeting.

The Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba announced this during a briefing on Thursday, UNN reports.

"In connection with the expansion of the visit program, the meeting of the heads of state of Ukraine and the United States, Presidents Biden, and Zelenskyy, will take place on August 31. We agreed with the United States to postpone this date for one day, in particular, because the format of the meeting of presidents has been expanded and will now include not only a meeting of delegations but also a face-to-face meeting," the Minister said.

According to Kuleba, Zelenskyy will begin his visit to the United States at the invitation of US President Joe Biden on August 30.

The agenda will include a number of important events, in addition to Washington, in the state of California.

"These are two basic points for the President's visit. No President of Ukraine has flown so far to the United States, never visited the other coast of the United States in the Pacific Ocean," the diplomat said.

Kuleba also didn't rule out that the current situation in Afghanistan might affect the timing of Volodymyr Zelenskyy's visit to Washington but assured that everything is going according to plan.

"What's happening in Afghanistan now can affect everything, but as of now, we have no indications that these events in any way negatively affect the preparation and implementation of the visit of the President of Ukraine to the United States. We understand how difficult the United States' situation is in Washington, and it's very challenging in Washington now. We are ready to help our partners as much as we can. But, as of now, there are no negative signals," he said.

To recap, the meeting of the Presidents of Ukraine and the United States Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Joe Biden was to take place in Washington on August 30.