On Wednesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy returned to the U.S. Capitol to strengthen his relationship with lawmakers before they vote on future aid to Ukraine. He thanked them for approving $175 billion in aid since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Zelenskiy is expected to meet with leaders of both houses of Congress and chairpersons of committees dealing with defense, expenditure, diplomacy, and national security. He will also attend this week’s NATO summit in Washington.
Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Mark Warner, a Democrat from Virginia, told Reuters, “This is an extremely important task. We must support Ukraine.”
This visit comes at a time of uncertainty for this year’s U.S. presidential election. Incumbent Democrat President Joe Biden strongly supports aiding Ukraine. However, some Democrats are unhappy with Biden’s performance in a debate with Trump on June 27, calling for him to step aside and let another candidate compete against Trump.
Despite Trump’s allies in Congress repeatedly voting against aid to the Zelenskiy government, Democrats and more internationally focused Republicans jointly approved $175 billion in aid.
During Zelenskiy’s last visit to Congress in December of last year, Mike Johnson, a close ally of Trump and the Republican House Speaker, had said that he would not support Biden’s additional funding request. However, Johnson changed his stance in April this year, allowing the House to vote after months of Biden requesting aid. The House passed a supplemental spending bill of $610 billion for Ukraine with a vote of 311 to 112.
Concerns arose as the “no” votes came from conservative Republicans, with people worried that if Republicans control the House, Senate, and White House in November, they may not approve more funds for Ukraine.
However, in a significant national security speech this week, Johnson stated that the threat posed by Russia goes beyond Ukraine. Throughout his nationwide tour, voters have expressed support for aid.
Johnson said, “People understand that Putin won’t stop even if he takes Kyiv. In my view, he is a ruthless dictator.”
As the Republican candidate for the 2024 election, former President Trump seems to have a different perspective on aid to Ukraine. According to a Reuters report last month, two of Trump’s advisers proposed a plan to end the war in Ukraine. If Trump wins the election on November 5th, he will tell Kyiv that only by joining peace talks can they receive more American weapons.
On March 8th this year, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, after meeting with American conservatives, said that if Donald Trump wins the November U.S. election, he will completely halt funding to Ukraine and end the Russia-Ukraine war. Orbán met with Trump on that day to discuss how to end the conflict. Orbán praised Trump as a “man of peace” in an interview after the meeting, believing Trump has a “detailed plan” to end the war in Ukraine.