President Biden is holding a joint press conference with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Tuesday after they met at the White House, with the pair making a renewed push for Congress to approve more aid for Ukraine in its war with Russia before the end of the year. At the top of his meeting with Zelenskyy, Mr. Biden announced he’s signed an additional $200 million in drawdown funds for Ukraine.
“Ukraine will emerge from this war — proud, free, and firmly rooted in the West, unless we walk away,” Mr. Biden said at the opening of the press conference. “The American people can be and should be incredibly proud of the part they played in supporting Ukraine’s success. We will continue to supply Ukraine with critical weapons and equipment as long as we can, including $200 million I just approved today in a critical, needed equipment, additional air defense interceptors, artillery and ammunition. But without supplemental funding, we’re rapidly coming to an end of our ability to help Ukraine respond to the urgent operational demands that it has.”
Asked to clarify his administration’s strategy on Ukraine, Mr. Biden said: We want to see Ukraine win the war, and as I’ve said before, winning means Ukraine is a sovereign, independent nation that can afford to defend itself today and deter further aggression. That’s our objective.”
Zelenskyy began his trip to Washington with meetings on Capitol Hill, where he met with senators and House Speaker Mike Johnson to push for more aid. Republicans have demanded stricter border security measures and immigration policy changes in exchange for more funding for Kyiv. GOP senators leaving the meeting expressed support for Zelenskyy but said the Biden administration must still agree to immigration changes before they agree to another round of assistance.
Despite the disagreements on Capitol Hill, Mr. Biden insisted there is “strong” bipartisan support for Ukraine.
“There is strong bipartisan political support for Ukraine — a small number of Republicans who don’t want to support Ukraine, but they don’t speak for the majority of even Republicans, in my view,” Mr. Biden said. “We’re in negotiations to get funding we need, not to promise — not making promises, but hopeful we can get there, and I think we can.”
Zelenskyy, speaking in English as he read off notes in the Oval Office, said he wants to speak with Mr. Biden on strengthening aid, particularly when it comes to air defense operations. Zelenskyy said he met with the heads of American defense companies on Monday, thanking engineers and leaders for building the strength of American weapons.
“The decisions we make now are going to determine the future for decades to come, particularly in Europe,” Mr. Biden said in his meeting with Zelenskyy. “And this is one of those moments. Congress needs to pass the supplemental funding for Ukraine before they break for the holiday recess, before they give [Vladimir] Putin the greatest Christmas gift they could possibly give him.”
Evan Vucci / AP
A Democratic bill with billions of dollars for Ukraine failed to pass the Senate last week, and the prospects for reaching a deal before year’s end appear slim. The Office of Management and Budget has warned that U.S. funding for Ukraine will run dry by the end of the month. Lawmakers are scheduled to adjourn for their holiday break this week.
While many Senate Republicans support arming Ukraine, some GOP members in the House have grown skeptical, demanding improved metrics and accountability while insisting that U.S. border security should be the priority. After a briefing on Ukraine on Tuesday, Rep. Mike Waltz tweeted: “Just left a closed-door briefing on Ukraine — still NO CLEAR STRATEGIC GOAL outlined by the Biden Administration.”
Two U.S. officials said the administration is expected to announce another $200 million drawdown of weapons for Ukraine this week. This relatively small package includes essentials like 105mm and 155mm artillery rounds and HIMARS munitions. This year, the administration is having to dole out small tranches of assistance as it stretches the remaining funding. That stands in contrast to last year, when the U.S. pledged a $1 billion drawdown with a Patriot battery to Ukraine on the day Zelenskyy visited the White House.
The U.S. intelligence community estimates that Russia has lost the majority of its pre-2022 military personnel to death or injury since the war began, according to a source familiar with the figures, which were recently briefed to Capitol Hill. Before 2022, Russia’s military had 360,000 personnel, and of those, 315,000 have been lost in Ukraine. Russia has also lost 2,200 of the 3,500 tanks it had before 2022, forcing Moscow to draw on large stocks of Soviet-era equipment in storage, such as T-62 tanks last produced in the 1970s.
Zelenskyy last visited Washington in September, when he thanked Congress for its help and requested more aid.
“I hope that the U.S. Congress will continue to take important decisions to provide financial assistance to Ukraine,” Zelenskyy tweeted after his September visit. “Oversight, transparency, and accountability for all the aid is absolutely important and imperative.”
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