House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) requested that all members of Congress be present on Wednesday for an unexpected “special” session.
The alert was sent to all Congress members in the form of a letter and only said that the “very special session” would feature a “very special focus on Democracy.”
The letter coincides with reports that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky intends to visit the U.S. Capitol in person on Wednesday.
“We are ending a very special session of the 117th Congress with legislation that makes progress for the American people as well as support for our Democracy,” the letter said. “Please be present for a very special focus on Democracy Wednesday night.”
Axios reported that Zelensky’s visit isn’t definitive, and is reliant on a number of factors. They added that U.S. Capitol Security is increasing its security for the potential visit.
This would be the Ukrainian president’s first foreign trip since Putin’s invasion began on Feb. 24 of this year.
Zelensky is expected to thank lawmakers for the billions of dollars in aid they’ve provided to the Ukrainian war effort and may push for further funding as the war in Ukraine drags on.
Ukraine’s leadership has increased warnings that Russia could attempt to renew an offensive against the country, perhaps even against the capital city of Kyiv.
“The Russians are preparing some 200,000 fresh troops,” Ukrainian Gen. Valeriy Zaluzhny, his nation’s top military commander, said in a newly published discussion of the war in Ukraine. “I have no doubt they will have another go at Kyiv.”
Zaluzhny said in an interview with the Economist that a “very important strategic task for us is to create reserves and prepare for the war, which may take place in February, at best in March, and at worst at the end of January. It may start not in Donbas, but in the direction of Kyiv, in the direction of Belarus, I do not rule out the southern direction as well.”
