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You are here: Home / Foreign Affairs / War for Ukraine Day 301: President Zelenskyy Goes to Washington

War for Ukraine Day 301: President Zelenskyy Goes to Washington

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Tonight’s post is going to be short and sweet. Both because President Zelenskyy will be speaking to a joint session of Congress shortly and because today was very long day for me day #3 in a row.

Here’s the video stream for President Zelenskyy’s address to the joint session of Congress at 7:30 PM EST:

As of right now – 6 PM EST – there is no daily address posted on the President of Ukraine’s website. I’m guessing the joint presser with President Biden that WG posted the video for earlier and the address later this evening will be it given the time differences.

Just a quick hit from the joint press conference:

Also, this is excellent Information Warfare:

Everything else after the jump!

Here’s a bit from President Zelenskyy’s arrival. The woman in the blue coat is Ukraine’s ambassador to the US Oksana Markarova. The man in the digicam with the Ukrainian flag shoulder patch is the Ukrainian Defense Attache/Senior Defense Official (DATT/SDO) Major General Borys Kremenetskyi.

Here is The Kyiv Post‘s defense correspondent Illia Ponomarenko’s take on the Russian assault on Bakhmut:

Here is former NAVDEVGRU Squadron Leader Chuck Pfarrer’s most recent assessment of Ukrainian Suppression of Enemy Air Defense (SEAD):

That’s enough as I’m sure you’ll want to focus on President Zelenskyy’s address to Congress, which is where our focus should be tonight.

Your daily Patron!

Still no new tweets, but we do have new video from Patron’s official TikTok!

@patron__dsns

З тремтінням подушечок лап представляю вам свою першу офіційну іграшку!😍 #песпатрон

♬ original sound – emily ★ ! #ThankYouGyuri – emily ★ !

The caption machine translates as:

With trembling paw pads, I present to you my first official toy! 😍 #PatrontheDog

Somebody better be ordering me late Chanukah gifts…

Open thread!

Reader Interactions

36Comments

  2. 2.

    Alison Rose

    That photo of Zelenskyy and Biden!!! I let out a very loud “Aww!!” and my cat looked at me, assuming it was about her.

    The ease and comfort between then is very obvious and lovely to see. I’m sure for Zelenskyy it’s a real relief to have a US president he can stand to be in the same room with. I appreciated Biden’s optimism during the presser about being able to continue aid to Ukraine with the next Congress. I wonder if that was in part intended to put republicans on a hot seat about it. Not that many of them give a damn.

    I’m also glad the J6 committee delayed releasing their report until tomorrow. It would have seemed kind of…I don’t know, dickish to do it today.

    If there will be an interpreter for the address to Congress, I do hope it’s a decent one, though I recognize that live interpreting of Zelenskyy’s quick speech patterns must be difficult.

    Thank you as always, Adam.

  5. 5.

    Wyatt Salamanca

    Adam,

    Many thanks for your valuable analysis/insights and for your tireless efforts to keep us all up to date on the latest developments in the War for Ukraine.

    Have a Happy Chanukah and a Happy, Healthy New Year!

  6. 6.

    Dan B

    Saw Ms. Makarova on Amanpour.  I felt like I didn’t learn anything new thanks to Adam’s and other front pagers.  Great work, thanks!

  11. 11.

    Geminid

    @RobertDSC-Mac Mini: I read that the US is providing kits to to make bombs precision guided. These SEAD missions may be preparing for Ukrainian airstrikes. Aside from the actual destruction this could further demoralize Russian forces.

  14. 14.

    Kent

    If Zelenskyy, his people, and his US supporters are smart he will spend a good bit of time meeting GOP members of Congress and letting them bask in his fame and glory and doing as many personal photo ops and such as they want.   As vile as they might be, it would be good politics leading up to the GOP takeover of the House in a few short weeks

    Don’t let traitors like Tucker Carlson and his Russian backers turn Ukraine into a partisan political issue as they so desperately want to do.  You don’t need to win over the whole GOP House and Senate.  Some are unreachable.  You just have to reach enough of them.

  15. 15.

    Dan B

    @CarolPW: It’s such a joy to have a President and First Lady who do all the subtle things instead of bluster.  And there are Kamala, Doug, Nancy, etc. who are just as adept.

  16. 16.

    Gin & Tonic

    @CarolPW: The blue in the flag represents the sky, so is supposed to be close to that shade. Interestingly, there are different words for the different shades of blue.

  18. 18.

    eachother

    In the context of karma, I’d say this is heavy artillery kick-back.

    There is this rippling feel good of current presidents.

    And tectonic vanquishment of a former president.

    All three connected majorly.

  19. 19.

    SiubhanDuinne

    I rarely see the Ukraine posts until the wee hours, or even next day, but I managed real time tonight. And I just have to say, I LOVE PATRON SO HARD!!

  20. 20.

    Alison Rose

    Biden officials are talking to Congress about declaring russia an ‘aggressor state’

    On Wednesday, a State Department spokesman said that Biden officials were working with Congress to craft legislation naming Russia as an “aggressor state,” a potential middle-ground action with less draconian impact [ed.: then declaring russia a state sponsor of terror] that could prevent a political showdown between the White House and Congress. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss pending legislation.

    Not sure what this less forceful declaration would do, but if it’s all they are willing to stretch to, then let’s do it.

  22. 22.

    Geminid

    I followed the post’s Illia Ponomarenko Tweets to his account and saw that he links to his recent article for the Kyiv Independent titled “Ukraine enters 2023 with frail upper hand over Russia” (kyivindependent.com).

     It seems like a good overview of the course of this war from its beginning and then month by month to the present. Early on Ponomarenko expresses the opinion that:

        Chances are high that the next months of winter and spring 2023 are going to be decisive in the war’s general outcome.

    Mr. Ponomarenko also put up a tweet earlier today that seemed to reference the latest tranche of military aid:

        Not a very popular opinion but- 300 surplus howitzers 155mm sent to Ukraine ASAP and fast ammo delivery are much more important fhan ATACMS.

    @IAPonomarenko Dec.20 2022.

    This raises the obvious question, “Why not both?” But I still found it an interesting take, although like he said maybe not a popular one.

  24. 24.

    Amir Khalid

    I dunno about this. Given what Marjorie Taylor-Greene has been saying about military aid to Ukraine, I have a lingering fear she will try to disrupt Zelenskyy’s address.

  26. 26.

    Ohio Mom

    @CarolPW: I’m going to give Biden’s tie a pass, it’s close enough. I like to assume he shopped his closet rather than send a staffer on a shopping expedition for a closer match. I’m thinking Jill also probably also shopped her closet.

    In English, we also have different names for blue: sky blue, navy, azure come to mind. Artists would add cobalt and ultramarine, then there’s cyan and cornflower, and that’s just off the top of my head. But it’s true, most people probably stick to light blue, dark blue and navy.

  29. 29.

    LiminalOwl

    @Ohio Mom: My mother’s journal records a conversation between me (age four) and my father, about royal blue vs. Prussian blue.  Yes, I had the big box of Crayolas. Also Cray-pas, which is where I learned Prussian blue.

  30. 30.

    CarolPW

    @Ohio Mom: I absolutely give the tie a pass – it’s the right mix (blue/yellow) for support and a bit of up yours. But Jill had already done the color match thing when she went to Ukraine, and it wasn’t surprising to me she had the closer blue.

  33. 33.

    Bill Arnold

    Zelenskyy did a good speech. Using tone and language that spoke to American patriotism(/belligerence) seemed effective. There was a lot of bipartisan standing up and clapping.
    The CSPAN captioner was struggling; missed a lot of words, and dropped a few sentence segments.
    The lack of a suit seemed to work.
    I’m sure some gormless suit-wearers will try to make something of it yet again, but they will be mocked for it.

  34. 34.

    Carlo Graziani

    @Geminid:

    Not a very popular opinion but- 300 surplus howitzers 155mm sent to Ukraine ASAP and fast ammo delivery are much more important fhan ATACMS.

    @IAPonomarenko Dec.20 2022.

    This raises the obvious question, “Why not both?” But I still found it an interesting take, although like he said maybe not a popular one.

    There’s a “new” puzzle that I’ve been wondering about since yesterday. Belgorod—a significant military target—is within HIMARS M-31 munitions range of Kharkhiv.  Despite which, the Ukrainians have not struck at Belgorod, until, possibly, yesterday, according to Pfarrer.  So they want ATACMS for why, exactly?

    There’s one possible way that I can make sense of this, which is that the Ukrainians did not have US permission to fire HIMARS rounds into Russia, possibly until yesterday (if Pfarrer can be relied upon).  If that’s the case, there’s quite a bit of damage that they could do right now if they got the green light from the US to open up with existing HIMARS assets on the Belgorod logistical hub. For one thing, they could shut down all logistical supply to Luhansk province.

    (And I’m more than a little embarrassed that it’s taken me this long to realize this…)

  35. 35.

    Lyrebird

    @LiminalOwl: I think the flag color is more baby blue. We need the mega-giant box of Crayolas to be sure though.

    I would go for the cerulean one to match the flags I have seen in videos from Kherson.  The battle flag presented to Congress though looks more like the new “bluetiful” crayon though.

  36. 36.

    daveNYC

    Is Bakhmut actually using up the good forces?  Wagner is technically leading the charge, but I though the actual Wagner forces leading the charge were prisoners and mobiks.  Throw them in the mix until the Ukrainians run out of ammo/sleep/just get unlucky, then send in whatever semi-professional types Wagner has in the area for the triumphant photo-op.

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