Any of you with a son or daughter in a combat zone just wouldn’t get it if they were told that protecting lives could wait because there’s a little more debating,” Zelensky said Monday
According to Time today, “The shortage is so bad that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is in Washington today to plead for carrots [sic] (versus sticks) to stand-up his country’s next wave of defense against Russia. His chief obstacle is the Republican Party’s hard-line base, which follows the lead of former President Donald Trump, who has made abiding skepticism of Ukraine a new plank of the GOP platform. Lost on no one is the fact that Trump’s attempts to bully Ukraine into a political hit job against Joe Biden and his family launched Trump’s first impeachment inquiry. “
Meanwhile, Israel remains a potent beneficiary of U.S. foreign policy norms. And Republicans are refusing any aid to Ukraine that doesn’t include a Southern Border Immigration Package.
Zelensky’s speech Monday at National Defense University barely registered in Washington, even with U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin delivering a glowing introduction. Zelensky made a direct appeal for more security aid on Monday during saying Russian President Vladimir Putin is seeing his “dreams come true” as delays continue in Congress.
CNN adds, “The hope among Biden’s team is that Zelensky can convince lawmakers, and particularly Republicans, of the necessity for more aid to replenish his war chests. Administration officials have long viewed Zelensky as his country’s most effective advocate, and he has spent the 21 months since Russia invaded in February 2022 addressing international parliaments, assemblies, summits and award shows to muster support.
Congress has already approved more than $100 billion for Ukraine along bipartisan lines, and backing for Kyiv was relatively unanimous at the start of the conflict. But support for Ukraine has been steadily waning in Congress, particularly among Republicans closely aligned with former President Donald Trump