Zelensky presents Biden with Ukrainian soldier’s award during meeting at White House

Biden says honor is ‘undeserved, but much appreciated’

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky presented US President Joe Biden with a medal from a Ukrainian soldier who had asked Mr Zelensky to give it to Mr Biden as thanks for American support in the war against Russia.

The soldier asked that the medal be given to “a very brave president,” according to Mr Zelensky.

Taking the medal, Mr Biden said it was “undeserved, but much appreciated”. The US president asked Mr Zelensky if he could contact the soldier to give him a command coin.

Mr Biden and Mr Zelensky arrived at the Oval Office at around 2.15pm on Wednesday, a White House pool report said.

“I’m delighted you could make the trip,” Mr Biden told Mr Zelensky, noting that Time magazine had made the Ukrainian leader its 2022 “Person of the Year”.

The US president added that Russian leader Vladimir Putin is “escalating his assaults on civilians” and is attempting to “use winter as a weapon”.

“We will support Ukraine pursuing a just peace,” he said.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky gives a medal to US President Joe Biden in the Oval Office of the White House, in Washington, DC on December 21, 2022 (AFP via Getty Images)

Mr Zelensky said he had wanted to visit the US earlier and shared “all my appreciations from my heart and from the heart of all Ukrainians” to Mr Biden, Congress, and the “ordinary people” of the US for all the support in the fight against Russian aggression.

The soldier, identified as a man named Pavel, who asked that his medal – the Cross for Military Merit – be given to Mr Biden, is an army captain leading a Himars unit. He met Mr Zelensky as the Ukrainian president visited troops in Bakhmut near the frontline on Tuesday.

“He asked me to pass [on] his award to President Biden,” Mr Zelensky said. He’s set to address Congress later on Wednesday and take part in a number of meetings as Congress is expected to approve another $40bn in aid to the country.

Mr Zelensky’s US visit is his first trip outside of Ukraine since the war started 300 days ago. His previous foreign visit took place on 19 February this year, five days before the start of the Russian invasion.

After a bilateral meeting to discuss what Ukraine needs to carry on fighting the largest war in Europe since 1945, Mr Biden and Mr Zelensky will take part in a joint press conference.

Mr Biden announced on Wednesday that Ukraine will receive a separate aid package that will include Patriot surface-to-air missile systems.

The US “stands with the brave people of Ukraine,” Mr Biden said, calling Mr Zelensky “a great leader”.