Zelensky arrives in Congress for crucial showdown with skeptical Republicans to convince

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky arrived in Washington D.C. on Thursday facing one of his biggest battles yet to convince skeptical House Republicans to keep approving U.S. aid.

The leader will hold talks on Capitol Hill and with President Joe Biden after Poland’s shock announcement that they would be axing their supply of weapons and as Russia rains down one of its most brutal missile campaigns in weeks.

Congress has already authorized more than $110 billion to Kyiv since Vladimir Putin‘s invasion, and some members of the GOP have warned the White House they will oppose Biden’s request to send another $24 billion.

The pressure is on the Ukrainian president, who will start his day on Capitol Hill where he met with House leaders and then with senators in the Old Senate Chamber, a rare privilege for world leaders. 

The entire Senate was there to greet him. 

He faced a cooler reception across the Capitol on the House side. 

Before his visit, Zelensky asked to deliver another joint address to Congress, as he did last December, Punchbowl News reported, but Speaker Kevin McCarthy denied the request.

‘Zelensky asked us for a Joint Session and we just didn’t have time,’ McCarthy told reporters on Capitol Hill Thursday  morning. 

Zelensky met the speaker, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, and other committee chairs and ranking members on the first floor of the Capitol. 

McCarthy, notably, didn’t come out to greet the Ukrainian leaders. Jeffries met Zelensky at the Capitol entrance and walked him to the meeting site. 

After the meeting, McCarthy said he remains non committal about the $24 billion aid package but said Zelensky answered many of lawmakers’ questions on the status of the war. 

Texas Republican Rep. Michael McCaul said Zelensky told lawmakers ‘he´s winning’ the war.

He said Zelensky told them he needs air cover and long-range artillery for his soldiers.  

Zelensky is making his plea for support as Ukraine’s neighbor, Poland, announced it will no longer provide weapons to Kyiv. 

‘We are no longer transferring weapons to Ukraine, because we are now arming Poland with more modern weapons,’ Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said.

Tensions between Warsaw and Kyiv, sparked by Poland’s ban on Ukrainian grain imports to protect the interests of its farmers, have intensified in recent days. 

Poland was one Ukraine’s earliest and staunchest allies after Russia invaded. It has taken in over a million refugees and been Kyiv’s biggest supplier of weapons.

In the US, Zelensky’s focus is on House Republicans, who have made clear they oppose more funding for the Ukraine. 

McCarthy’s stop-gap resolution to keep the government running while lawmakers negotiate a full budget deal lacks any funding for Kyiv. 

And now 29 GOP lawmakers wrote to the Biden’s budget chief to express their concerns about how much has already been given to the Ukraine – $100 billion – and to complain the Biden administration  supports an ‘open-ended commitment’ to the country.

They argue Americans need more information on the war effort.

‘How is the counteroffensive going? Are the Ukrainians any closer to victory than they were 6 months ago? What is our strategy, and what is the president’s exit plan?’ they write.  

McCarthy has made similar comments.

‘Was Zelensky elected to Congress? Is he our president? I don’t think so. I have questions for where’s the accountability on the money we’ve already spent? What is this the plan for victory?’ he said to reporters on Capitol Hill earlier this week.

But Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell does support funding Ukraine’s war effort although some conservatives in the upper chamber think the U.S. has done enough to help Kyiv.

McConnell, along with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, escorted Zelensky into his meeting with senators.  

The Biden administration continues to push for more funding. Zelensky will cap off his visit to Washington with a meeting in the Oval Office. 

Zelensky’s visit comes at a ‘critical time, as Russia is reaching out’ to countries like North Korea and Iran, White House spokesman John Kirby said on Wednesday. 

Biden can get a ‘battlefield perspective,’ when he meets with Zelensky in the Oval Office, Kirby noted.

While Zelensky was out of the country, Russia upped its aerial campaign, damaging energy facilities and causing power outages in several region.

Moscow targeted Lviv in the west, near the border with Poland, and Kharkiv, close to Ukraine’s eastern front lines, as well as Kyiv, Cherkasy and Rivne. 

Zelensky arrives in Washington after addressing the UN General Assembly as part of the body’s annual meeting.

He also addressed the U.N. Security Council, where he got tough, accusing it of inaction on Russia’s invasion of his country.

‘Most of the world recognizes the truth about this war,’ Zelensky said.

‘We should recognize that the U.N. finds itself in a deadlock on the matters of aggression,’ he noted.