Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba says the meeting was put off due to ‘expansion of Zelensky’s visit program’ revealing the talks were reformatted to add a ‘face-to-face’ meeting.

‘The meeting of the leaders of Ukraine and the United States, Presidents Zelensky and Biden, will take place on August 31… the format of the presidents’ meeting has been expanded and will now include not only a meeting of delegations, but also a face-to-face meeting’, Kuleba said.

The minister stressed that the agenda of Zelensky’s visit to the United States will include ‘a number of important events’ in Washington and California.

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In July, the White House announced August 30 as the official date of Biden’s first meeting with Zelensky.

The first conversation between Biden and Zelensky took place 2.5 months after the inauguration of the American president. During the conversation on April 2, Biden reaffirmed US ‘unwavering support for Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity’ in the face of Russia’s continued aggression in Donbas and Crimea.

On June 7, the second conversation between Volodymyr Zelensky and Joe Biden took place and was followed by the announcement from the White House that the US president  invited Volodymyr Zelensky to visit Washington in summer.