‘This is a Time of War for His Country’: Cable Newsers React to Volodymyr Zelensky Wearing Combat Clothes to the White House

The cable news world observed that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was certainly dressed in his trademark style when he arrived at the White House for his meeting with President Joe Biden Wednesday.

Zelensky’s arrival marks his first trip outside of Ukraine since Russia launched its invasive military campaign into his country 10 months ago. The Ukrainian president and his American counterpart are expected to hold a press conference and strategic conversations about the war, and Zelensky will later give an address before Congress to appeal for continued military aid against Russia.

Zelensky’s visit to Washington comes a day after he visited his troops on the front lines of the war around the city of Bakhmut. Biden greeted the Ukrainian president upon his arrival, and as the moment was broadcast on cable news, anchors and analysts noted that Zelensky was not dressed in the typical suit of a foreign emissary, but in the military fatigues of a wartime leader.

Here’s how Katy Tur described it in her coverage for MSNBC:

President Biden and First Lady Dr. Jill Biden. And you can see, he is getting a good look at him, President Zelensky, very notable though, still in his, what he’s been wearing throughout the war, these green fatigue colored sweatpants, or sweatshirt, and military-style cargo pants. Not in the suit and tie that you would normally see another dignitary arrive at the White House with. This is a time of war for his country.

Over at Fox News, John Roberts had a similar reaction:

I’ve been to a lot of those diplomatic entrance arrivals…Every time, the leader of the particular country would be wearing a suit or — maybe from Saudi Arabia — wearing traditional robes. I’ve never seen somebody show up in the same sort of clothing that they were wearing when they were in Bakhmut yesterday on the front lines of the war in Ukraine.

Zelensky has been moving around an awful lot in the last 24 to 48 hours, and really has become the face of resistance against the Russian army there in Ukraine, and around the world as well, and continuing today with that same look, if you will, that we have seen him in for the last 300 plus days.

Finally, here’s what Nick Paton Walsh had to say for CNN:

When I saw him getting out of that vehicle, Joe Biden putting his arm around him, you really get a sense of how important the choreography, the symbolism of this trip really is. There is zelensky in military fatigues, everyone to be reminded this is a man who daily sends men to the front line to die. The Ukrainian trident on his sweatshirt there. This is a man, clearly, who’s probably having his first moment out of Ukraine in a significant period of time. He’ll be jet-lagged, he’ll have a list in his mind of things he needs Joe Biden to understand.

Watch above via MSNBC, Fox News and CNN.