Joe and Jill Biden welcomed the first lady of Ukraine to the White House

• gossip

US President Joe Biden, with flowers in hand, and First Lady Jill Biden welcomed Ukraine's First Lady Olena Zelenska at the White House today, for a visit ahead of her address to Congress tomorrow. The wife of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky hugged Jill Biden and received flowers from the president, who met her vehicle in front of the White House.

The two women and the delegations of the two countries later sat down for a conversation in the Blue Room of the White House.

Jill Biden visited Ukraine in May

In May, Jill Biden made a surprise trip to Ukraine, which Russia invaded on February 24, visiting the first lady and a school housing displaced Ukrainians.

Russia calls its action in Ukraine a "special military operation" by which it ensures its security.
"When I came back, one of the things that I said was you cannot go into a war zone and come back and not feel the sorrow and pain of the people that I met," Jill Biden said in the Blue Room alongside other US officials.
"You asked me then to talk about mental health issues, and so, I came back and I talked to my team," she continued.

"I think you received my letter about what we're doing to help with mental health for the mothers and the children who have really suffered such tragedy and the atrocities, and so I've been working on it. The team has been working on it." Zelenska should address the US Congress on Wednesday, House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced.

Zelensky also recently suspended the head of the SBU, Ivan Bakanov, and filed a resolution with the Ukrainian parliament for his dismissal, launching an investigation into the presence of Russian collaborators among the ranks of his organization.

While the thrust of the Russian offensive in Ukraine is focused on the Donbas region, Zelenska's visit focused the human cost of the war also comes as missile attacks have picked up in southern Ukraine.