Zelenskyy is making a last-ditch push to get more U.S. weapons and aid for Ukraine
President Joe Biden will welcome Ukraine's president to the White House on Tuesday — part of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's last-ditch push to try to get more U.S. weapons and aid for his country in order to push back against Russia's invasion.
The visit comes at a critical moment. Biden has asked Congress for more than $60 billion in aid for Ukraine but has so far been rebuffed. Zelenskyy is also expected to visit Capitol Hill to meet with senators on Tuesday and will also meet with House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., to plead his case.
Biden has long insisted that the U.S. will stick by Ukraine in its fight against Russia for as long as it takes, but Republican support has waned as the war has dragged on.
The White House says Biden will get an update from Zelenskyy on how things are going on the battlefield and will also assure him, as well as the Ukrainian people, that the United States is going to support them through the winter fighting season.
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Biden included his funding request for Ukraine as part of a larger request for more than $105 billion in supplemental national security funding that also includes aid for Israel, for countering China in the Indo-Pacific and for beefing up security at the U.S. southern border.
“I can assure you that — that he will make it clear to President Zelenskyy that we're standing firm on this supplemental request,” National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby told reporters on Monday. “We absolutely need to get additional funding to support Ukraine going forward now.”
Republicans want big concessions on border policy
But many Republican lawmakers have said they will not vote for any more money for Ukraine unless it is attached to significant border policy measures. Immigration is a top concern for Republican voters ahead of the 2024 presidential election.
The number of migrants crossing the southern U.S. border is at an all-time high. A bipartisan group of senators has been negotiating for weeks, looking to reach a compromise on tougher border policies, but talks broke down last week with Republicans saying Democrats were not taking their demands seriously.
Johnson, the House speaker, says he'll keep repeating the same message about the border until he's blue in the face. "The battle is for the border," Johnson said. "We do that first as a top priority, and we'll take care of these other things."
Time is running out on reaching a deal. Lawmakers are about to leave Washington for the holidays. And the White House says it will run out of money to support Ukraine by the end of the month.
Biden: ‘We can't let Putin win’
“History's going to judge harshly those who turn their back on freedom's cause,” Biden said last week. “We can't let Putin win.”
U.S. officials have warned that Russian President Vladimir Putin would be emboldened by a win in Ukraine to pursue Eastern European countries that are members of NATO — countries that the United States is obligated to defend in what would be a more expensive and dangerous fight.
Zelenskyy told G7 leaders last week that Putin is banking on the U.S. and other Western nations growing tired of the war.
“Russia hopes only for one thing — that next year the free world's consolidation will collapse,” he said. “Russia believes that America and Europe will show weakness and will not maintain support for Ukraine at the proper level.”
His wife, Olena Zelenska, has been even more explicit. In an interview with the BBC, Zelenska called any drop in aid as a “mortal danger.”
“We cannot get tired of the situation because otherwise we will die. And if the world gets tired, they will simply let us die,” she said.
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