Poroshenko to meet with Trump today

The Presidential Administration of Ukraine revealed on June 19 that Petro Poroshenko and his entourage departed that day for a working visit at the White House. Later that day in Washington, Poroshenko confirmed that he will meet with U.S. President Trump, U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, as well as several key department heads, as reported by the Interfax-Ukraine news agency. Trump will also meet with U.S. Vice President Mike Pence and the heads of the IMF and World Bank, Interfax said.

“It’s very important that my meeting in the White House, as the Ukrainian president, will be earlier than the meeting with Putin so that everyone will be armed with information and no one is allowed a chance at unfairness,” Poroshenko said, referring to Trump’s plans to attend the G20 summit on July 7-8. “Never was there a visit with such potential,” he said. “It’s important for the opportunity to communicate on our cooperation in the spheres of defense, politics and economics.”

Zenon Zawada: It’s an accomplishment for Ukrainian diplomacy to have secured this critical meeting. Last week presidential advisor Turchynov revealed plans to approve new legislation that would fold the Anti-Terrorist Operation into a new method of warfare in the Donbas region. That will be among the various topics of discussion with Trump’s team, as well as key topics like natural gas transit and shale gas exploration.