Zelensky will address US senators before voting on aid to Ukraine
A day later, the White House warned that the United States would do so soon have no more money To send weapons to Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelensky will make a direct appeal to senators on Tuesday to remind lawmakers what is at stake if they fail to quickly approve emergency military aid for his country.
Republican support for funding Ukraine’s war effort is waning, and an emergency funding package is stuck in Congress. The Democratic-led Senate will vote Wednesday on whether to approve more than $61 billion in Ukraine-targeted aid as part of a $106 billion national security package.
Before the vote, Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York and majority leader, warned: “America’s national security is at stake.” He said he had invited Mr. Zelensky to brief lawmakers in a confidential video call on Tuesday, during which the Ukrainian leader is expected to provide updates on the state of fighting and reminders of the war’s broader implications.
‘If Ukraine falls, Putin will continue’ Mr. Schumer said from the Senate floor Monday night.
“Autocrats around the world will be emboldened,” he added. “Democracy, this great and noble experiment, will enter an age of decline.”
Nearly two years after the war began, President Biden has vowed that the United States will support Ukraine “for as long as it takes” to repel Russian aggression. But as the war continues, a growing group of Republicans have expressed concerns about providing more financial support to Zelenskiy’s government.
Republicans twice refused to include military aid to Ukraine in emergency legislation to keep the government funded this fall, insisting that any money should be tied to border security.
Ukraine urgently needs more ammunition and other weapons to try to turn the tide on the battlefield. The country’s counter-offensive against entrenched Russian forces in southern Ukraine has so far failed to achieve its objectives, and Moscow’s forces have gone on the offensive in the east.
On Monday, Shalanda D. Young, director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, said: wrote an open letter against House and Senate leaders of both parties, who said cutting off the flow of money and weapons would “undermine Ukraine on the battlefield.”
“We’re out of money – and running out of time,” she wrote.
Although Washington’s warning did not trigger any overt signs of panic in Kiev, it comes at perhaps the most uncertain time for Ukraine since the first chaotic months of the war.
Mr Zelensky has acknowledged that a summer offensive aimed at taking back large swathes of land has not achieved its goals. He has said his country must find better ways to recruit and train soldiers as losses mount and troops who have been fighting relentlessly for nearly two years need a break. And the divisions between his government and military leaders are increasingly scrutinized by the Ukrainian news media as domestic politics reassert themselves.
Despite the bloody fighting, the front line has remained largely static over the past year. Although they have regained little ground, the Ukrainian forces have used enormous amounts of ammunition to hold the line.
Mr. Zelensky has repeatedly warned of the risks that declining U.S. military aid would pose.
He has done that in recent weeks concerns expressed that the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza could distract allies and potentially undermine support for Ukraine.
“Our deliveries have decreased,” Mr. Zelensky told reporters on November 16, referring specifically to 155-millimeter shells, saying that “they were really slowing down.”