The last time the Ukrainian leader came to Washington, he received a warm welcome from then president Joe Biden as well as a pledge for billions of dollars in military aid.
But it is a different story with President Donald Trump, who recently accused Volodymyr Zelensky of being "a dictator" and appeared to blame him for starting the war.
Yesterday, speaking during a joint press conference with the visiting UK leader Keir Starmer, Mr Trump softened his rhetoric.
He said he had a lot of respect for Mr Zelensky and that Ukraine had "fought very bravely".
On the agenda when the two men meet this morning is a deal to give the United States access to Ukraine's critical mineral reserves.
Mr Trump called it a "huge economic development project" that would be good for both countries. But the Ukrainian leader repeatedly requested security guarantees from the United States in return.
Mr Trump refused to make any promises, despite pressure from the French President Emmanuel Macron and the British Prime Minister, during their visits to the White House this week.
As for the prospect of Ukraine joining NATO - something Mr Zelensky said he would resign in exchange for - Mr Trump was similarly dismissive.
"It’s not going to happen," he told reporters at the White House yesterday.
But Mr Trump said he believed a US presence in Ukraine "digging" for minerals would be a deterrent or "backstop".
"I don’t think anyone is going to play around if we are there with a lot of workers and having to do with rare earths and other things which we need for our country," he said.
The question is whether Mr Zelensky will see it that way.
He may not have a choice given that Mr Trump said the deal was already "very well advanced".
Mr Zelensky’s visit to Washington comes at the end of a week when the United States shocked European allies by voting at the United Nations alongside Russia against a Ukrainian-drafted resolution, which condemned Russian aggression and demanded the withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukrainian territory.
The United States submitted their own rival resolution without mentioning Russia’s invasion and simply called for a "swift end to the conflict".
But yesterday, Mr Starmer praised Mr Trump for "changing the conversation to bring about the possibility that now we can have a peace deal".
Mr Starmer said he wanted to work with Mr Trump "to make sure that a peace deal is enduring". But, like the French president before him, Mr Starmer walked away without the security guarantees for Ukraine he had wanted.
They may, though, have smoothed the path for Mr Zelensky’s visit today.
French media reported that Mr Trump was planning to cancel his meeting with Mr Zelensky over the latter’s refusal to sign the deal without conditions. It was Mr Macron who persuaded his American counterpart to receive him, according to the reports.
This is not Mr Zelensky’s first visit to the White House, but it is likely to be the most difficult.
