By Yashwant Raj

Washington, Dec 21 (IANS): The US is getting ready to receive Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky on Wednesday for meetings with President Joe Biden at the White House and address the joint session of Congress, according to US media reports.

This will be Zelensky's first visit outside Ukraine after the Russian invasion in February, and his second to the US.

Earlier on Tuesday, US lawmakers announced a bipartisan deal to provide nearly $50 billion in emergency aid to Ukraine in its battle against Russia. With this, the total US aid to Ukraine in this effort goes up to $100 billion.

There is an urgency to the funding as Republicans, who take charge of the House of Representatives in January, are likely to be less generous. Many Republicans have been opposing increasing aid to Ukraine and they will now have the opportunity to cut it.

Zelensky has not travelled abroad since February but has reached out through video appearances around the world, including the US Congress, parliaments of many Western countries and the UN, both the General Assembly and the Security Council.

He has been an extremely effective advocate for his country's war efforts, rallying and pushing countries to do more.