Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky’s visit to Washington a year ago was a love-fest, characterised by standing ovations from American politicians, lavish praise from president Biden and a commitment to keep the aid flowing. His visit this week, however, occurred in a much different atmosphere.
The politics of Ukraine aid have changed, with a growing number of Republican lawmakers wondering whether sending more taxpayer dollars to underwrite a stalemate is a wise course of action. While Ukraine’s cause has received a better hearing in the senate, Mitch McConnell, the minority leader, is intent on using the Biden administration’s $106 billion (£85 billion) national security supplemental request (more than half of which is earmarked for Ukraine) to press for tougher immigration laws. The frontline in Ukraine has barely moved in places over the last year – or, where it has moved, the advancements have been so marginal as to be practically meaningless in the grand scheme of things.
Zelensky understood he had a steep hill to climb. His two days in the US capital consisted of a dizzying number of meetings. On 11 December, he delivered a speech to the National Defense university essentially making his case that Ukraine was fighting for all the world’s democracies. US lawmakers, Zelensky argued, are only helping Russian president Vladimir Putin by dillydallying. ‘If there’s anyone inspired by unresolved issues on Capitol Hill,’ the Ukrainian president remarked, ‘it’s just Putin and his sick clique.’ It was an interesting public relations strategy, akin to shaming the very legislators that have already doled out more than $100 billion (£80 billion) in US taxpayer assistance for Kyiv’s war effort.
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