Why Ukraine’s first lady turned down State of the Union invitation
First lady of Ukraine Olena Zelenska arrives at the White House with President Volodymyr Zelensky on September 21, 2023 in Washington, DC.
Anna Moneymaker | Getty Images
Ukraine’s First Lady Olena Zelenska will not be attending U.S. President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address Thursday because of a scheduling conflict, her spokesperson said.
“The Embassy of Ukraine in the USA received an invitation for the First Lady of Ukraine to be present on March 7 during the Union address to Congress by the President of the United States,” Tetyana Gaiduchenko said.
“But due to the planned events in the schedule, including the visit of Kyiv children from the orphanage, which were planned in advance, unfortunately, the first lady will not be able to participate in the events,” she said, NBC reported.
There has been speculation that Zelenska declined the invitation on learning that Yulia Navalnaya, the wife of the late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, had also been invited to the prestigious event.
The Washington Post reported that Navalnaya’s potential presence was uncomfortable for the Ukrainians because of Navalny’s past statements that Crimea, which Putin annexed in 2014, belonged to Russia.
Citing people familiar with Kyiv’s deliberations, the news outlet said that sources noted that the Ukrainians were also wary of being viewed as too closely aligned with Biden ahead of the U.S. presidential election, where a Republican candidate, highly likely to be Donald Trump, could be reelected.
— Holly Ellyatt
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