Ukrainian President Visits White House

The visit comes as the Ukrainian government signed a landmark treaty with the EU on Tuesday and maintains its involvement in the ongoing peace talks with rebel forces.

According to media reports, Poroshenko's visit will seek to reach a bigger commitment from Washington, in military as well as financial aid.

The country is facing a deep economic recession and reconstruction costs which have been calculated by the government in over US$700 million.

But experts are skeptical President Obama will back the requests.

“The general sense is that corruption is just as bad as before,” Anders Aslund was quoted saying in the Washington Post. Aslund is an economist at the Peterson Institute for International Economics who advised the Ukrainian leaders on economic issues.

In recent weeks, U.S. lawmakers have visited Ukraine in an effort to persuade Washington to step up its intervention in the conflict by increasing military aid.

Meanwhile, in Ukraine, heavy shelling was again reported in Donetsk on Wednesday. The renewed violent clashes have killed 12 people and are threatening to end the ongoing ceasefire. Both rebel leaders and government officials have called on their forces to stop the violent clashes.