MOSCOW, September 18 (RIA Novosti) - Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko will visit Washington on Thursday to meet with US President Barack Obama, US congressmen, and give a speech at the Atlantic Council think-tank.
According to the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry, Poroshenko will also hold bilateral meetings with US Vice President Joe Biden, Speaker of the United States House of Representatives John Boehner, and the US Secretary of State John Kerry.
Earlier, Ukrainian Foreign Ministry's spokesman Yevhen Perebiynis said that Poroshenko's visit to the United States "is going to contribute to reinforcement of Ukraine's sovereignty, broadening of technical and other assistance to Ukraine, and stabilization of situation in Donbas."
But it is clear that the real reason behind Poroshenko's visit is the request for more economic and military aid.
Over the past weeks, various US officials and lawmakers have visited Kiev, and called for lethal assistance that would help Ukrainian military to fight the independence supporters in the country's east.
The United States have already offered over $60 million of nonlethal aid to Ukraine, staged two military exercises in the country's territory. Apart from that, the International Monetary Fund has agreed on $17 billion loan to support struggling Ukraine's economy.
However, Kiev officials do not think that this was sufficient.
"There is a sense, and I have to be honest about it, in the Ukrainian public and Ukrainian society that both the US and the EU are not doing enough to support the Ukrainian case," Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin said in an interview in Kiev as quoted by the Washington Post.
On Wednesday, Poroshenko has visited Canada and has met with Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, with the same request. Ottawa agreed to allocate $200 million loan for Ukraine to help restore its economy and ensure the country's social stability.
Ukraine's economy has been seriously damaged as a result of the ongoing political crisis in the country. Kiev also has a significant gas debt that its gas company Naftogaz owes to Russian gas giant Gazprom and which is estimated to stand at over $5.3 billion.
