Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky’s khaki olive green sweatshirt, becomes talk of the town after visit to US Congress

Information reaching Kossyderrickent has it that Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky’s khaki olive green sweatshirt, becomes talk of the town after visit to US Congress.

The olive green sweatshirt, with its little Ukrainian trident embroidered at the neck, cargo pants and tactical boots that President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine wore on his trip to Washington may seem the least important part of the highly choreographed and powerful piece of political theater that was that diplomatic event, but they were also a telling detail: a reminder of what exactly the purpose of the surprise visit had been.

Namely, that despite the fact that it was Mr. Zelensky’s first foreign trip since the Russian invasion of Ukraine began, and despite the fact that Ukraine has defied all odds in holding out for 10 months against an aggressor that was widely expected to roll over the country with ease, the watching world should be on notice: The fight was far from over.

In his wartime uniform, Mr. Zelensky was a constant, living symbol of that battle, no matter the pomp and circumstance that surrounded him.

His D.I.Y. fatigues stood out from the moment he emerged from his diplomatic vehicle on the White House lawn to be greeted by President Biden and the first lady, Jill Biden. They were a stark contrast to the president’s classic navy suit and the first lady’s sky blue coatdress and pumps. They stood out when Mr. Zelensky posed with the president for a photo call in the Oval Office, just in front of a fireplace festooned with Christmas wreaths, and in the joint news conference the two men held afterward, the flags of the United States and Ukraine at their backs.

The trip – Zelensky’s first outside Ukraine since Russia’s invasion in February – also highlights President Joe Biden’s historic role in reviving the Western alliance that kept the Soviet Union at bay and is now countering new expansionism by Moscow in an effective proxy war between nuclear superpowers.

Zelensky’s arrival will draw poignant echoes of British Prime Minister Winston Churchill’s arrival in Washington, 81 years ago on Thursday, days after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. That Christmas visit cemented the alliance that would win World War II and built the post-war democratic world.

Zelensky compared his nation’s resistance against Russia with Britain’s lonely defiance of the Nazis in the days before the US entered World War II during a video address to the UK Parliament earlier this year, and his arrival in the US capital will sharpen the parallels to the earlier meeting of Churchill and President Franklin Roosevelt.

His visit is unfolding amid extraordinary security. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi wouldn’t even confirm the early reports that she’d welcome Zelensky to the US Capitol in an unexpected coda to her speakership, saying on Tuesday evening, “We don’t know yet. We just don’t know.”

A White House reception for Zelensky, who sources said was traveling to the US on Tuesday night, will above all be an unmistakable sign of US and Western support for Ukraine’s battle against Putin, who says the country has no right to exist. The war exemplifies what Biden has framed as a global struggle between democracy and totalitarianism, which he has put at the center of his foreign policy.

A White House reception for Zelensky, who sources said was traveling to the US on Tuesday night, will above all be an unmistakable sign of US and Western support for Ukraine’s battle against Putin, who says the country has no right to exist. The war exemplifies what Biden has framed as a global struggle between democracy and totalitarianism, which he has put at the center of his foreign policy.

Democratic Rep. Ruben Gallego of Arizona, who visited Ukraine earlier this month, said on CNN’s “AC360” that Zelensky was coming to Washington on a specific mission. “What he is trying to do is draw a direct correlation between our support and the survival and support and future victory of Ukraine,” Gallego, a member of the Armed Services Committee, said.

The visit comes a day after Zelenskyy greeted troops in Bakhmut, a front-line city that Moscow’s forces have struggled to seize despite months of intense battles, while Russian President Vladimir Putin offered a rare admission of his army’s difficulties.

But beneath the frozen surface of the conflict — now past 300 days — officials in Kyiv have warned that the Kremlin plans a major new ground offensive this winter that could even target a second assault on the capital. The Russian leader’s pre-Christmas trip to neighboring Belarus only added to mounting speculation.

Zelenskyy will now meet with President Joe Biden and address Congress as his country hopes to not just shore up but secure greater support from its Western allies.

“Ukraine is very keen to step up and intensify the military support from the U.S.,” Frank Ledwidge, a senior lecturer of law and strategy at University of Portsmouth, told NBC News.

“We are in an ‘operational pause,'” in the conflict, Ledwidge added, “and Ukraine is worried because the war will be long and time probably really favors Russia.”

On Monday, Putin and his most senior advisers traveled to the Belarusian capital, Minsk, to meet authoritarian ally President Alexander Lukashenko, amplifying long-held fears that his forces could join a new offensive.

It comes after senior Ukrainian leaders told Western media outlets in a series of interviews over the past week that they are preparing for a new onslaught, after weeks of a battlefield stalemate in which Russia has bombarded civilian infrastructure and left parts of the country without power for long periods.

However, analysts say Belarus joining the war is unlikely and they are split on whether Ukraine’s latest warning of an impending Russian offensive is plausible or could be part of a broader messaging strategy.

Ukraine’s defense minister, Oleksii Reznikov, told The Guardian last Thursday that new evidence had emerged showing Russia was preparing an offensive using half of its 300,000 newly mobilized troops.

“The [draftees] do a minimum of three months to prepare. It means they are trying to start the next wave of the offensive probably in February, like last year. That’s their plan,” he said.

Gen. Valery Zaluzhny, the head of Ukraine’s armed forces, told The Economist the same day: “The Russians are preparing some 200,000 fresh troops. … I have no doubt they will have another go at Kyiv.”

Zelenskyy’s visit would appear to fit in with the urgency of those warnings, said Ledwidge.

“Last week the military leadership of Ukraine asked for a significant uptick in the quantity of weaponry, which only the U.S. can supply. This week we have the political effort to try and clear the way for that,” he said.

In a call with reporters Tuesday night, a senior U.S. administration official described the visit as a chance to provide an “important injection of momentum and sustenance” to support for Ukraine.