Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy was yesterday to visit the White House and Capitol Hill to make a last-ditch plea to US lawmakers to keep military support flowing as he battles Russia.
Heading into winter, with tens of thousands of Ukrainians dead, a yawning budget deficit and Russian advances in the east, Zelenskiy was to press US lawmakers to replenish nearly depleted funding, before meeting with US President Joe Biden.
“If there’s anyone inspired by unresolved issues on Capitol Hill, it’s just [Russian President Vladimir] Putin and his sick clique,” Zelenskiy said at a speech in Washington on Monday to a US military audience.
Photo: Reuters
Newly declassified US intelligence shows that “Russia seems to believe that a military deadlock through the winter will drain Western support for Ukraine” and ultimately give Moscow the advantage, despite Russian losses, White House National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson said.
Ukraine is having success stopping Russian forces, but Putin is continuing to order his troops forward, despite heavy losses of troops and equipment since October, she added.
There are just three days before Congress recesses for the year on Friday, and Republicans in the House of Representatives have until now refused to pass a US$106 billion supplemental bill that contains Ukraine aid without unrelated, fiercely disputed changes to US immigration.
Putin, who last week said that he would run for president again next year, is betting he can outlast Western aid and attention to score a major strategic victory against the West, Zelenskiy and Biden aides believe. The view is shared by European lawmakers who were yesterday to send their own last-minute plea to Congress.
Biden has cast the situation in stark terms, saying “history is going to judge harshly those who turn their back on freedom’s cause.”
Ultimately, US troops could be forced to fight Russia, Biden and others say, if an unchecked Putin invades a European ally covered by NATO’s mutual defense commitments.
US House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson said in a letter to the Biden administration released last week that lawmakers need more detail on the administration’s objectives in Ukraine and linked the issue to immigration.
“President Biden must satisfy Congressional oversight inquiries about the Administration’s failure thus far to present clearly defined objectives, and its failure to provide essential weapons (for Ukraine) on a timely basis,” Johnson wrote.
He added that “supplemental Ukraine funding is dependent upon enactment of transformative change to our nation’s border security laws.”
The White House told Congress on Monday last week that the government would no longer have funding to provide more weapons for Ukraine after the end of the year. Congress approved more than US$110 billion for Ukraine since Russia’s invasion in February last year, but no new funds since Republicans took over the House from Democrats in January.
About 41 percent of US adults polled by Reuters/Ipsos last month backed sending weapons to Ukraine, compared with 32 percent who were opposed and the rest unsure.
Zelenskiy was expected to address US senators at 9am. He would not address the House, but was to meet privately with Johnson.
Biden and Zelenskiy were to hold a joint press conference at 4:15pm.
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