Zelensky tries to shore up US support
In Washington, warns of fall without aid
WASHINGTON — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky made his second wartime visit to Washington on Thursday and warned lawmakers that his country would fall to Russia if the United States curtailed the military and financial aid that has helped Kyiv withstand a grinding onslaught but has not given the Ukrainians an upper hand.
Zelensky’s visit — and his warning — comes as Ukraine struggles to break through Russian front lines and some Republican lawmakers grow increasingly skeptical of Kyiv’s slow-moving counteroffensive. On Thursday, Russia launched a missile attack on cities across Ukraine, including the capital, hours after Zelensky denounced Russia’s “criminal and unprovoked aggression” against his country before the United Nations Security Council.
At the White House, standing beside President Biden, Zelensky told reporters that his trip to the capital was “very important.” On Capitol Hill, he bluntly explained why.
“If we don’t get the aid, we will lose the war,” Zelensky said in a meeting at the Capitol with dozens of senators, as recounted by Senator Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat and the majority leader.
At the White House, Biden praised the Ukrainian people for their “enormous bravery,” while Zelensky focused squarely on securing more aid “with a special emphasis on air.” On Thursday, Jake Sullivan, Biden’s national security adviser, said the United States would supply aid to provide Ukraine with “significant” air defense capabilities.
But he did not say whether the package included a powerful weapon called the Army Tactical Missile System, known as ATACMS, which can strike targets 190 miles away with a warhead containing about 375 pounds of explosives.
Zelensky came to Washington to appeal for more aid, even as polls have shown a growing weariness over the war among the American public, and as dozens of Republicans say they are opposed to Biden’s latest request to Congress for $24 billion for additional military and humanitarian aid for Ukraine. Biden has bucked Republican concerns, pledging that the United States — by far the largest military funder of Ukraine among its Western allies — will stay with Kyiv for the long haul.
But Washington has changed in the nine months since Zelensky was invited to deliver a joint address to Congress — complete with Vice President Kamala Harris and Representative Nancy Pelosi, a California Democrat and thenspeaker of the House, brandishing a Ukrainian flag signed by soldiers on the front line. Back then, Biden, who harbored serious doubts about Zelensky’s longevity as a leader at the outset of the invasion, had started to greet the Ukrainian leader like an old friend during regular phone calls. Biden secretly visited Kyiv in February.
These days, Biden faces sinking approval numbers and concerns about his age as he campaigns for reelection. Republicans now control the House, which has descended into chaos in recent days as lawmakers seem unwilling to agree on passing spending legislation that would avert a government shutdown. And insurgent members are threatening to relieve Speaker Kevin McCarthy, a California Republican, of his gavel.
In a show of bipartisan comity, Zelensky, dressed in dark olive fatigues, was escorted through the Capitol during his visit by Schumer and Senator Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky Republican and the minority leader.
“American support for Ukraine is not charity,” McConnell said in a statement. “It’s in our own direct interests — not least because degrading Russia helps to deter China.”
Zelensky was given a different reception from McCarthy. The speaker, who is under pressure to take a hard line amid demands in his caucus for spending cuts, told reporters that Zelensky had already had his chance to deliver a congressional address. McCarthy had a private meeting with Zelensky on Thursday, and both men were cordial. But he has also publicly questioned supporting the war.
“Where is the accountability on the money we already spent?” McCarthy asked reporters this week. “What is the plan for victory? I think that’s what the American public wants to know.”
In a smaller, closed-door meeting Thursday, Republican lawmakers asked Zelensky to address their concerns and provide them with his vision of a plan for victory. And Democrats asked him how they could convince their conservative colleagues that continuing to support the war was the right answer.