Biden invites Ukrainian president to White House in July

(CNN) — President Joe Biden has invited Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to visit the White House later this summer, national security adviser Jake Sullivan said Monday.

Sullivan said Biden discussed the upcoming visit during a call with Zelensky earlier Monday afternoon as part of a planned discussion ahead of Biden’s upcoming trip to Europe.

Zelensky confirmed the invitation, tweeting, “Thank you @POTUS @JoeBiden for inviting me to visit the @WhiteHouse in July during our phone conversation. I look forward to this meeting to discuss ways to expand strategic cooperation between Ukraine and #USA.”

Monday’s call came days after Zelensky told Axios he was imploring Biden to meet with him in-person before the President meets with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Geneva next week. The White House appears to have turned down Zelensky’s request for an in-person meeting ahead of the summit.

Asked about whether Biden would take Zelensky up on meeting before the Putin summit, Sullivan said during the press briefing that Biden told the Ukrainian leader during Monday’s call “that he looks forward to welcoming him to the White House here in Washington this summer after he returns from Europe.”

“I have come into this briefing room from the Oval Office where President Biden was on the phone with President Zelensky of Ukraine. This is a call they had been planning to make in advance of President Biden going to Europe (and) meeting with President Putin,” Sullivan said. “They had the opportunity to talk at some length about all of the issues in the U.S.-Ukraine relationship. And President Biden was able to tell President Zelensky that he will stand up firmly for Ukraine sovereignty, territorial integrity and its aspirations as we go forward.”

In a recent op-ed for The Washington Post, Biden indicated that Ukraine would be top of mind during his discussions with European allies and with Putin in Geneva.

“So, when I meet with Vladimir Putin in Geneva, it will be after high-level discussions with friends, partners and allies who see the world through the same lens as the United States, and with whom we have renewed our connections and shared purpose,” Biden wrote. “We are standing united to address Russia’s challenges to European security, starting with its aggression in Ukraine, and there will be no doubt about the resolve of the United States to defend our democratic values, which we cannot separate from our interests.”

During the Trump administration, the White House refused to take action over Russian aggression in Ukraine. But the Biden administration has indicated that the nation will be among the topics of discussion during the Putin summit.

Zelensky played a central role in former U.S. President Donald Trump’s first impeachment. A whistleblower complaint first flagged that, during a call between Zelensky and Trump in July 2019, Trump asked Zelensky for help digging up damaging material on Biden — his then-Democratic rival.

Zelensky told reporters on Thursday that he felt the United States’ lift on Nord Stream 2 sanctions would be a victory for Russia and a personal loss for Biden.

The Biden administration indicated in May that it had decided against sanctioning the company in charge of building Russia’s Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline despite strongly opposing the project, signaling that it is prioritizing unity with allies over concerns about a potential geopolitical threat.

The administration instead opted to sanction some of the smaller entities involved in the project, including some Russian companies and ships that have been helping in the construction.