House Speaker John Boehner said he will invite the embattled president of Ukraine to address a joint session of Congress next week.
Boehner, R-Ohio, said President Petro Poroshenko’s address, scheduled for Sept. 18, would serve as “a signal of our steadfast commitment to the aspirations of his people,” adding, “It will be an honor and a privilege to welcome him to the United States Capitol.”
The announcement comes two days after Sens. Bob Menendez, D-N.J. and Bob Corker, R-Tenn., the chair and ranking member on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, wrote to Boehner and asked him to extend the invite.
The two senators told Boehner in the letter that it was critical to allow Poroshenko to address Congress, “at this defining moment for not only Ukraine, but for Russia and the post-Cold War international order.”
Ukraine has been battling an encroaching Russian military, which under President Vladimir Putin has annexed the Crimean Peninsula and has been advancing into other parts of the country’s interior.
