This is the Global News Podcast from the BBC World Service.

I'm Janet Jalil, and in the early hours of Thursday 22 December, these are our main

stories.

President Biden has welcomed Floodmirs Lensky to the White House, saying the US will

provide patriot missiles to bolster Ukraine's defenses against Russian aerial attacks.

Vladimir Putin has promised the Russian military as much money as it needs for the war in Ukraine.

Israel's Prime Minister Designat Benjamin Netanyahu has announced that he's formed a new government

minutes before a deadline.

Also in this podcast, I discovered pickleball just over two years ago, and I can safely

say that it has changed my life completely.

The growing craze of pickleball, but is it a real sport?

We begin in Washington.

As the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February, President Zalensky has played hosting Kiev

to numerous foreign dignitaries and addressed parliaments all over the world by video

link.

But now for the first time in ten months, he has left Ukrainian soil to visit his country's

most important ally, the United States.

He was warmly welcomed by President Biden and his wife at the White House, where the two

men held talks and then a joint news conference.

Let's hear some of what first Mr. Biden and then Mr. Zalensky had to say.

Today, I'm announcing the next trance of our security assistance Ukraine.

$1.85 billion package of security assistance includes both direct transfers of equipment

...