Ukraine first lady rejects White House invite to State of the Union
Ukraine first lady Olena Zelenska has rejected an invite to President Biden’s State of the Union address Thursday, citing a scheduling conflict.
The White House had planned to seat Zelenska near Yulia Navalnaya, the widow of Russian dissident Alexei Navalny — but that plan did not go over well with the Ukrainians, the Washington Post reported Tuesday.
Despite Navalny being a global symbol of resistance to Russian President Vladimir Putin, his public comments on Ukraine — including his stated conviction that Crimea belongs to Russia — complicate his legacy in Kyiv.
“Due to scheduled events, including a visit of children from an orphanage to Kyiv, which was planned in advance, the first lady will unfortunately not be able to attend the event,” Tetiana Haiduchenko, Zelenska’s press secretary, told the New York Times.
Navalnaya also declined an invite to Biden’s address, citing exhaustion. Her husband died Feb. 16 in an Arctic prison under highly suspicious circumstances.
Biden called Putin “responsible” for Navalny’s death and slapped fresh sanctions on the Kremlin in response.
“Yulia was indeed invited and considered going, but I think everyone forgets the circumstances against which the events unfolded,” Navalnaya spokeswoman Kira Yarmysh told the Washington Post.
“Yulia’s husband died two weeks ago. She’s been traveling all this time. Today is the first day she’s been home at all. Like any human being, she needs time to recover, and so while she very much appreciates the invitation, she needs to recover at least a little now.”
Biden met with Navalnaya and her daughter, Dasha, in San Francisco six days after Navalny’s death was made public.
Biden’s overture to Zelenska comes as the president is trying to ratchet up the pressure on Congress to replenish military aid to the war-torn nation, which has struggled with critical ammunition shortages on the battlefield in recent months.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky traveled to Washington in December and pleaded with lawmakers to marshal more aid.
A $95 billion supplemental package that includes roughly $60 billion in support for Ukraine cleared the Senate last month but hasn’t been taken up by the House of Representatives.
On Wednesday, Problem Solvers Caucus co-chair Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.) barreled forward with his plan to bring a separate Ukraine aid bill to the House floor for a vote via a parliamentary procedure known as a discharge petition.
During the State of the Union, Jill Biden is set to sit next to Kate Cox, a woman who sued Texas to obtain an abortion to terminate a fetus that had a lethal abnormality. The episode drew national attention.
The White House and the Ukrainian Embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Thursday’s speech will be Biden’s third State of the Union address and his last before the Nov. 5 general election.
