Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy arrives in the U.S. Capitol Thursday alongside House Minority Leader Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, a Democrat from New York.
Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
hide caption
toggle caption
Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy arrives in the U.S. Capitol Thursday alongside House Minority Leader Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, a Democrat from New York.
Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy arrived in Washington, D.C., Thursday morning to make a renewed pitch for American aid to support his country’s ongoing fight against Russia, as a new round of funding hangs in limbo ahead of a looming government shutdown.
Zelenskyy’s itinerary in D.C. includes a morning on Capitol Hill for bipartisan meetings with lawmakers. Afterward, he is expected to meet with U.S. military officials at the Pentagon before meeting with President Biden in the Oval Office — the sixth meeting between the two leaders.
Zelenskyy’s arrival came hours after a wave of Russian missile attacks on energy and civilian infrastructure across Ukraine killed at least two and injured dozens. Ukrenergo, a grid operator in Ukraine, reported power outages in about 400 cities and towns.
On his Telegram account, Zelenskyy thanked first responders and nodded to anti-missile systems donated by countries such as the United States. “More air defense. More sanctions. More support for Ukrainian soldiers on the front lines. Russian terror must lose,” he wrote.
At the Capitol, Zelenskyy will first meet with House leadership before meeting with the full Senate. He wore his trademark military green outfit, trading his usual t-shirt for a button-up.
New funding to Ukraine is tied up in the fight over a possible shutdown
Since the Russian invasion in February 2022, no country has provided more funding to Ukraine than the United States. Total aid to Ukraine has topped $112 billion, with another round of funding currently tied up in Congress.
But appetite to send new funds to Ukraine, among congressional lawmakers and the public alike, has begun to falter as the war enters its 20th month. A much-anticipated counteroffensive that began in June is still well short of Ukraine’s stated goals, with just a month or two left before winter sets in.
Biden has asked Congress to approve $24 billion in new aid to Ukraine. The funding has no obvious path to passage in the near term due as Congress nears an end-of-the-month deadline to approve new spending or face a government shutdown.
Far-right House Republicans have shown little appetite in approving a bill, and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s leadership seat could be in danger.
In the long term, future packages of aid to Ukraine could become more politically difficult to pass.
Although Democrats are mostly unified behind the president in support for additional aid, more Republicans have started to voice their discontent. Some have expressed concern about the length of the war and Ukraine’s chances of victory. Others, like Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, oppose funding for nearly all foreign interventions.
Despite the dissenters, the “majority of the majority” supports the additional funding, said Rep. Michael McCaul, the Republican chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, speaking to reporters after meeting with Zelenskyy.
Still, he added: “We can’t afford a war of attrition. We need a plan for victory, and we need to do it soon.”
Like Congress, the American public is split in support for additional aid. A CNN poll last month showed that 71% of Republicans oppose new funding while 62% of Democrats support it.
Zelenskyy’s visit comes the day after a meeting of the United Nations Security Council in New York, where he urged the council to oust Russia as a permanent member. “Humankind no longer pins its hopes on the U.N. when it comes to the sovereign borders of nations,” he said.
Credit: Source link
