President Joe Biden urged Volodymyr Zelensky not to give up hope as he received the Ukrainian president at the White House on Tuesday. This was part of a pressure campaign to get Republicans in Congress to approve the funding Kiev needs to counter Russian forces.
“I don’t want you to give up hope,” Biden told him in the Oval Office. “We’ll stay by your side.”
Zelensky flew to Washington to lobby for $61.4 billion held up by Republicans on Capitol Hill who want provisions to secure the U.S. southern border.
“People must have confidence that freedom is safe and strong enough to win,” he told Biden in the Oval.
President Joe Biden shakes hands with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky during a meeting in the Oval Office of the White House
And Biden warned that Congress would give Russian President Vladimir Putin the “biggest Christmas present ever” if he doesn’t approve more funding for Ukraine.
“Congress must pass additional funding for Ukraine before they go into the holidays, before they give Putin the biggest Christmas present they can give him,” Biden said.
The Ukrainian president spent the morning at the Capitol lobbying lawmakers, but it may all have been for naught: Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell told his senators the talks were going nowhere.
McConnell said at a private Senate luncheon held shortly before Biden's meeting with Zelensky that the talks would be postponed until January, Punchbowl DC reported.
The move would be a blow to Biden's administration and his Zelensky's war effort.
Biden reiterated his concern that Putin would step up his offensive if Congress did not act. And he warned Putin against bombing Ukraine's power grid this winter.
“Putin plans to bomb Ukraine’s power grid and use rockets to plunge families into darkness and cause great damage during the coldest time of the year.” “We cannot and do not want to make him a success,” Biden said.
Zelensky said his country was working to become more independent of foreign aid.
“Ukraine's dependence on aid is decreasing significantly and we are moving in the right direction. I would like to discuss with the President how we can strengthen them, particularly by improving our air defense and our ability to destroy Russia's logistics,” he said.
Zelensky's personal visit to Washington, the third since the start of the war, is his most important visit and a sign of how bleak the White House views the situation: on the one hand, to provide Zelensky with his financing, and on the other hand, how important this money is to the Russians to repel armed forces.
Biden has asked Congress for $61.4 billion for Ukraine as part of a $110 billion package that also includes money for Israel and other national security priorities.
The money is stuck in a debate over U.S. immigration policy and border security, with no sign of an agreement in sight. And Congress is scheduled to leave town later this week for the rest of the year.
Many Republican lawmakers, particularly in the House of Representatives, argue that enough American money has been spent on Ukraine and it is better to spend it at home. These Republican lawmakers are trying to tie border security to the funding package for Kiev and Israel.
Since Russian President Vladimir Putin's invasion in February 2022, the US has already provided Ukraine with $111 billion for its fight.
Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell, seen at the Capitol with President Zelensky and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, told his senators that the talks were going nowhere
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky arrives at the White House
But the Biden administration has warned that a failure to renew military aid to Ukraine could tip the nearly two-year-old war in Russia's favor and lead to threats to the West's national security.
Zelensky began his day on Capitol Hill, where he attended a meeting of all senators at the joint invitation of Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer and Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell. He then met with House Speaker Mike Johnson.
Biden's budget director Shalanda Young said on December 4 that the US would run out of funds to support Ukraine by the end of the calendar year.
As of mid-November, the U.S. Department of Defense has used 97% of the $62.3 billion in additional funding and the State Department has used the entire $4.7 billion in military assistance to Ukraine allocated to it, she stated.
The US has provided about half of Ukraine's military aid, and it is unlikely that another country could make up the difference. In addition, the USA has sent American weapon systems that require US ammunition.
The Biden administration is doing everything it can to finance Zelensky's war.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned that the clock is ticking during his appearances on political talk shows on Sunday.
“This is the time to really engage, because if we don’t, we know what will happen.” “Putin will be able to continue with impunity and we know he won’t stop in Ukraine,” Blinken said.
Johnson left his meeting with Zelensky seemingly unfazed by the urgent need for aid, insisting that no U.S. dollars would be passed on without proper U.S. border controls.
“I reiterated to him that we stand with him and against Putin's brutal invasion,” the spokesman said of their conversation.
But he added: “I have been asking the White House since the day I was handed the gavel as speaker, and for clarity we need a clear articulation of the strategy to enable Ukraine to win.”
Johnson then accused Democrats of not being open enough to the border regulations that Republicans are demanding in return for foreign aid.
“It's not the House's business right now, it's the White House's and the Senate's business, and I implore them to do their job,” the spokesman said.
Schumer said he called Johnson and asked him to keep the House in session. But Johnson said he wouldn't do that without a clear path forward.
“I don't know what else to do.” “I'm not going to have everyone sitting here twiddling their thumbs all Christmas,” he said.
“We are ready to work.” Members of the House of Representatives will work. “We've shown this time and time again, but we're getting zero cooperation from the White House and Senate Democrats,” Johnson told radio host Hugh Hewitt this morning.
Zelensky, meanwhile, pleaded for “aid of life and death” to continue his country’s fight against Russia.
“The fight we are in is a fight for freedom,” he said repeatedly at the meetings, according to lawmakers.
He also told senators that his citizens would resort to “guerrilla warfare” if necessary and support would dry up.
“The president at one point mentioned a guerrilla war if he doesn’t get that kind of support — if it gets worse.” [to] “That’s the point,” Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson told a group of reporters after the meeting.
“I mean, Putin would be facing a long-term guerrilla war in all parts of Ukraine that you would occupy, which can't be particularly attractive to him,” he said.
President Zelensky with House Speaker Mike Johnson
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky (center) walks with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (right) and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (left).
President Biden has signaled his willingness to reach a deal with Republicans on border funding, but Republicans say the administration will not give in to their push for policy wins. The Biden administration says the supplies the U.S. can deliver to Ukraine are running out.
“The day we get these policy changes.” “We're going to get a big vote in the Senate and I think there's going to be enough in the House,” Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham predicted.
As for the Ukrainians: “They will keep fighting forever, but they need more than just the money and help we will give them.” “They need more weapons, longer-range weapons,” he said.