<div style="text-align: justify; "><b style="font-size: 1rem;">Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky is planning to visit Washington on Wednesday and may meet US President Joe Biden, reports say.</b><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">It would be his first foreign trip since the Russian invasion in February.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Mr Zelensky could also address Congress, unnamed officials told US media. There is no official confirmation of the visit or the plans.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">A visit would be fraught with security concerns - meaning plans could likely change at short notice.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In a letter on Tuesday, Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi urged members of Congress to be in attendance on Wednesday night.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"Please be present for a very special focus on democracy," she wrote, without giving further details.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Mr Zelensky regularly hosts foreign leaders in the capital, Kyiv, and has visited troops around Ukraine. He made an unannounced visit to the front-line city of Bakhmut on Tuesday.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Ukrainian president has also spoken frequently to world leaders over the telephone and by video call - often from his office in Kyiv.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">But an unannounced visit to a foreign country would mark a first since the war began, and also signal the importance of Ukraine's relationship with the US which has played a leading role in providing military support.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In terms of overall spending on direct military support since the start of the conflict, the US has committed $18.5bn (£15.1bn), far more than any other individual country (to 20 November).</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">President Zelensky has appealed for more funding, and has said the monthly cost of defence for Ukraine was about $5bn (£4.1bn).</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Most recently, US media have reported that President Joe Biden's administration is considering supplying Ukraine with Patriot missiles that would enable the country to protect its vital infrastructure against Russian attacks.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Russia has been targeting Ukraine's energy sector, plunging millions into darkness in winter temperatures several degrees below freezing.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">On Tuesday, President Zelensky made an unannounced visit to the front-line city of Bakhmut, where Ukrainian and Russian forces have fought a fierce, months-long battle.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">He met troops and handed out awards to soldiers, the presidency said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The visit was a significant show of defiance - and a demonstration of support for Ukrainian forces engaged in some of the fiercest battles in recent weeks.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Soldiers gave Mr Zelensky a Ukrainian flag with their names signed on it and asked him to give it to President Biden and the US Congress, in a moment that was captured on camera.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Mr Zelensky's office has not officially commented on any imminent trip to the US.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">On the same day, Russian President Vladimir Putin awarded medals inside the Kremlin to figures involved in the Russian invasion. BBC</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">bnbd24/kh</div>