How Zelensky was flown to US in the middle of Ukraine war for historic address

Washington insiders reveal how the leader’s journey from Kyiv to the White House came to be

The idea of a daring wartime trip by Volodymyr Zelensky to Washington had percolated for some time before the surprise visit was revealed just hours ahead of the Ukrainian president’s arrival.

During an October summit in Zagreb, House speaker Nancy Pelosi discussed with her counterpart in the Ukrainian parliament the prospect of Mr Zelensky addressing the US Congress. Biden administration officials had similarly talked for months with Ukraine about a Zelensky visit to the White House, hoping for one before year's end to send an unmistakeable signal of support ahead of a brutal winter that could deepen Russian president Vladimir Putin’s assault.

In previous calls, Mr Zelensky had indicated to Joe Biden and other senior officials that the United States was the first country he wanted to visit when the time was right for him to travel, according to a US official with knowledge of the conversations. So in a phone call between the two leaders on 11 December, Mr Biden reiterated the invitation.

This time, Mr Zelensky told Mr Biden, was the right time.

“I really wanted to come earlier. Mr President knows about it, but I couldn’t do it because the situation was so difficult,” Mr Zelensky said from the Oval Office on Wednesday. The trip could happen now, the Ukrainian leader said, because “we controlled the situation and ... first of all, because of your support”.

The behind-the-scenes details of Mr Zelensky’s surprise visit to Washington were described by an aide to Ms Pelosi, a US official and a senior administration official, all of whom requested anonymity to describe planning for the secret trip.

Once the wheels of planning started to roll, Mr Zelensky's 10-hour visit – which packed in an Oval Office meeting with Biden, a joint news conference at the White House and an address to a largely supportive Congress – came together quickly.

After the two presidents discussed the trip on 11 December, the White House extended a formal invite three days later, according to the senior administration official. Mr Zelensky accepted the invitation on Friday, and the visit was confirmed two days later, at which point White House officials notified Ms Pelosi's office of the Ukrainian leader's travel plans.

Joe Biden and Volodymyr Zelensky held a joint press conference in the East Room at the White House (Alex Wong/Getty Images)

“I’m delighted you were able to make the trip to be here,” Mr Biden told Mr Zelensky on Wednesday. “It’s an honour to be by your side in united defence against what is a brutal, brutal war being waged by Putin.”

What came about on Wednesday was an elaborately executed plan by US and Ukrainian officials to swiftly and safely route Mr Zelensky to Washington, his first known trip outside the country's borders since Russia's invasion in February.

The Ukrainian president crossed into Poland early on Wednesday, according to Poland’s private broadcaster, TVN24, arriving at a train station in Przemysl, a border town and the arrival point for many refugees fleeing the war.

Accompanied by the US ambassador to Ukraine, Bridget Brink, Mr Zelensky was transported in a US Embassy vehicle to an airport in Rzeszów, where he boarded a nonstop flight that landed at Joint Base Andrews – a base some 30 minutes from the White house – shortly after midday on Wednesday.

Carrying Mr Zelensky to Andrews was a US Air Force jet – a government plane typically used for Cabinet secretaries and other dignitaries below the president and vice president. The White House didn’t publicly announce the impending Zelensky visit until 1am on Wednesday – waiting until they felt Mr Zelensky was safely out of Ukraine.

A German Boeing spy plane ensured safe navigation through the North Sea before a US Air Force F-15 fighter jet took off from the UK to escort the C-40 Clipper carrying the Ukrainian president, according to the Daily Mail.

The F-15 jet reportedly returned to its base in Suffolk shortly after the Ukrainian president passed over Scotland, and thousands were able to track his flight at times as it crossed the Atlantic, appearing briefly over Berlin and off the coast of Greenland.

Once Mr Zelensky had landed, Secret Service protection kicked in, as is typically done for visiting heads of state.

The senior administration official said the US consulted closely with Mr Zelensky on his security, and that the Ukrainian president felt it was sufficient for him to briefly travel to the United States.

Meanwhile, Ms Pelosi, who had travelled the world in recent months in a ferocious defence of Ukraine, had also been planting the seeds for months for a Zelensky address to Congress.

She had been at the Zagreb summit in October at the invitation of Mr Zelensky and Ruslan Stefanchuk, the speaker of the Ukrainian parliament. There, Mr Zelensky spoke to the audience of “the importance of the free world’s unshakable solidarity with Ukraine” – an address that Ms Pelosi emphasised in her invitation to the Ukrainian president.

The US House speaker returned from Croatia and began discussing the idea of a Zelensky address, informing the other main congressional leaders — Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer, House minority leader Kevin McCarthy, and Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell – about her conversations abroad and asking for their support for the Ukrainian leader to come to the Capitol.

On Wednesday, Ms Pelosi – just days away from handing over her gavel to Republican control – finally welcomed Mr Zelensky to the Capitol, which she called a “profound privilege” and a “great pride”, coming at a moment when Capitol Hill is about to greenlight an additional $45bn (£37bn) of emergency aid to Ukraine.

Nancy Pelosi and vice president Kamala Harris hold a Ukrainian flag signed by members of its military, given to them by Volodymyr Zelensky (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

“Your visit comes as the Congress prepares to again pass another consequential round of security, economic and humanitarian assistance,” Ms Pelosi told Mr Zelensky. “Within the next 48 hours, hopefully this will be done.”

Before he left Ukraine, there were clues in Mr Zelensky's own words that a surprise trip abroad could be in the works.

In a visit on Tuesday to Bakhmut, located in Ukraine’s contested Donetsk province, Mr Zelensky was handed a Ukrainian flag. He pledged then that he would pass on the flag “from the boys to the Congress, to the president of the United States”.

Standing before the US Congress on Wednesday night, Mr Zelensky finally produced the flag – covered in signatures by Ukrainian troops battling on the front lines.

“They asked me to bring this flag to you, to the US Congress, to members of the House of Representatives and senators whose decisions can save millions of people,” Mr Zelensky said in his final words to politicians.

“So let these decisions be taken. Let this flag stay with you. Ladies and gentlemen, this flag is a symbol of our victory in this war.”