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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is a realistic man. When he was asked by a reporter after his visit to the Capitol and the White House whether he had heard what he wanted to hear, the man in olive green leaned forward slightly and, just to be sure, repeated the question: “Whether I heard , what I wanted to hear? I’ve definitely heard a lot.”
Then he looks deeply: “I received a lot of positive signals. But we know that we have to distinguish between words and concrete results. What counts for us are concrete results.”
Republicans remain dismissive
The “concrete result” is that Zelenskiy’s visit did not change the attitude of Republicans in Congress. Even Republican lawmakers like Mitt Romney and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, both senators who fundamentally support robust military aid to Ukraine, insist that President Biden first make drastic changes to immigration policy and securing the US border with Mexico must be carried out before further aid to Ukraine can be debated. “Our border – just like the borders of Ukraine, Israel or Taiwan – must be inviolable,” said McConnell.
Speaker Mike Johnson made it even clearer in the House of Representatives: “The Biden administration is demanding billions of fresh dollars, without appropriate oversight of what happens with the money, without a winning strategy, without answers for the American people.”
Johnson almost casually made it clear that there would be no vote in the House of Representatives on further aid to Ukraine without radical changes to immigration policy.
Frustrated US President
While Zelenskiy appears realistic and the Ukrainian president doesn’t mention the internal American dispute, the frustration in the White House is palpable. President Biden sharply attacks the Republicans in Congress.
Wearing a blue and yellow tie striped in the Ukrainian national colors, he stands next to Zelensky and quotes caustically praising remarks made on Russian state television about the Republican blockade in Congress. “If you’re being celebrated by Russian propagandists, maybe it’s time to rethink what you’re doing,” Biden said.
There is a lot at stake for the US president. Ukraine has been at the center of Biden’s foreign policy since the war began almost two years ago. Failure would be a direct defeat for him (which is why there are voices in the USA who see this as one of the reasons for the Republican blockade). And even if Biden continues to be hopeful, he has to say that evening after his conversation with Zelenskiy: “I don’t make any promises.”
Support “as long as we can”
Minutes earlier, Biden had said the sentence that most clearly expresses the fact that the balance of power in the USA has changed significantly since the midterm elections a year ago and the Republicans winning the majority in the House of Representatives. The United States will continue to supply Ukraine with anti-aircraft missiles, artillery shells and other weapons “as long as we can,” Biden said. Until now he had always said: “As long as it is necessary.”