Ukraine's Zelenskyy wins support from US President Biden but faces US sceptics

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited Washington on Thursday to seek assistance in battling Russia, receiving warm words of support and weaponry from President Joe Biden but facing sceptical Republicans who want to cut off funding.

“We’re with you and we’re staying with you,” Biden told the Ukrainian leader after their top teams met at the White House to thrash out Zelenskyy’s demands for more arms to push back the Russian invasion.

Wearing his trademark olive green military-style shirt, Zelenskyy said Ukraine “has exactly what our soldiers need” after Biden announced a new package of US military aid, including sophisticated air defence weapons.

But, behind the scenes of strong handshakes across a huge cabinet table and displays of unity in the Oval Office, Zelenskyy’s second wartime journey to Washington was considerably more difficult than the first.

Whereas Zelenskyy was greeted as a hero when he arrived in December, this time he spent his closed-door talks in the US Congress urgently attempting to overcome Republicans’ mounting war fatigue.

Hardline Republicans have threatened to oppose Democrat Biden’s proposal for a new $24 billion assistance package for Ukraine, and the country is currently embroiled in a nasty budget debate that might lead to a government shutdown.

‘No alternative’

Biden said alongside Zelenskyy that there was “no alternative” to backing the Ukraine funding, adding that he was “counting on the good judgment of the United States Congress.”

Speaking later at the National Archives, Zelenskyy said, “I assured President Biden that we in Ukraine will not give up and he assured me that America will be with us, as long as it takes.”

The US president said the first US M1 Abrams tanks will arrive in Ukraine “next week,” boosting Kyiv’s forces as they battle Russian troops in a slow-moving counteroffensive.

The latest US package would also strengthen Ukraine’s air defence capability, crucial at a time when the country faces repeated Russian missile and drone attacks.

The Ukrainian leader arrived right after another wave of Russian missile strikes,  hitting cities across the country and killing at least three people in Kherson and wounding many in other areas.

Zelenskyy thanked Biden for the “vital assistance provided by the United States to combat Russian terror, really terror.”

As part of his bid to win over Washington, Zelenskyy went to the Pentagon where he laid a wreath at a memorial for victims of the September 11, 2001 attacks.

But in a blow to Zelenskyy, Biden rejected, for now, a request for longer-range ATACMS missiles that can strike up to 300 kilometres (190 miles) away, the White House said.

‘Blank check’

The key part of Zelenskyy’s visit was arguably to a deeply divided Congress.

The hard-right faction dominating the Republican Party is increasingly adamant that the aid spigot should be turned off, with Congress having already approved $100 billion in aid to date, including $43 billion in weaponry.

On Capitol Hill, Zelenskyy got a notably discreet welcome from the Republican Speaker of the House of Representatives, Kevin McCarthy, who is having trouble keeping a lid on internal party squabbling over US spending in Ukraine.

Some Republicans say the money could be better spent on US border security, while there are also concerns about the pace of Kyiv’s counteroffensive and that corruption in Ukraine means the money will go to waste.

The doubts are being fuelled by messaging from former president and likely 2024 candidate Donald Trump, who has opposed more funding and frequently expressed admiration for Russia’s Vladimir Putin.

It’s a trend that has also reached parts of the generally more pro-Ukraine Republicans in the Senate, where Senator Roger Marshall said Congress should not be “sending another blank check to Zelenskyy”.

Democratic Senate leader Chuck Schumer, a major supporter of Biden’s pro-Ukraine policies, said Zelenskyy had told him “If we don’t get the aid, we will lose the war.”

Kyiv is meanwhile trying to shore up international support, with Zelenskyy telling the UN General Assembly in New York this week that the world must stand firm with Ukrainians against Russia’s “genocide.”

But Zelenskyy played down a row with Poland, saying only that he was “grateful” for Warsaw’s support after the Polish prime minister said he would no longer arm Ukraine in a mounting row over grain exports.

The Polish premier later said he had been “misinterpreted.”

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