Cap in Hand, Urgently Earnest and Hoping

"If there's anyone inspired by unresolved issues on Capitol Hill, it's just [Russian President Vladimir] Putin and his secret clique."

"Ukrainians haven't given up and won't give up. We know what to do. And you can count on Ukraine. And we hope just as much to be able to count on you."

"We are using every day, every minute to give more to Ukraine, to our people -- more opportunities, more protection, more strength."

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy

In a photo posted on his Telegram channel, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaks at the National Defense University in Washington, Dec. 11, 2023.

The White House pointed to declassified intelligence indicating that Ukraine has inflicted heavy losses on Russia in fighting that took place recently along the Avdiivka-Novopavlivka axis, resulting in 13,000 Russian casualties and over 220 combat vehicles destroyed. This is where the partly occupied east of Ukraine has been the centre of some of the recent weeks fiercest battles. All of which take time, grit, casualties of their own, and weaponry requiring replacement.

Which led Ukrainian President Zelenskyy to another visit to Washington where he first spoke to a defense university, where he dropped the intelligence from Ukraine's point of view that Russia may be fighting in Ukraine but it's "real target is freedom" in America and around the world. It certainly looks that way from any perspective, given the evidence of the past few years. 

His purpose was to issue a personal plea for Congress to resolve its deadlock and in the process unlock roughly $60 billion scheduled in military aid, unable to flow to Ukraine while Republican lawmakers continue to hold up the process, pressing the Biden administration to first tighten the southern border to put a stop to floods of migrants entering the U.S.

 

In a photo posted on his Telegram channel, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy meets with U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Charles Brown, Dec. 11, 2023.

 

Tuesday was the day earmarked for Zelenskyy to meet with the American lawmakers to make his case for additional military aid in view of the reality that the Biden administration is running out of the money approved in previous aid packages helping to repel the Russian onslaught in Ukraine. To them, President Zelenskyy warned that his country's counteroffensive has stalled for lack of all the weapons his military is in need of.

"As Russia ramps up its missile and drone strikes against Ukraine, the leaders will discuss Ukraine's urgent needs and the vital importance of the United Sates' continued support at this critical moment", a statement delivered by White House spokeswoman Karina Jean-Pierre stated. Even as Zelensky embarked on  his trip to Washington, Moscow targeted southern Ukraine with 18 drones, launching eight ballistic missiles at the Kyiv region.

While senators struggle to reach a compromise on U.S.-Mexico border policy changes Republicans insist on, assistance to Ukraine cannot pass both houses of Congress. "Right now, Republican demands are unreasonable", stated lead Democratic negotiator Senator Chris Murphy; that he expects the White House to become more engaged in the negotiations to resolve "some pretty big differences that remain". 

"They seem to be focused on how many people can we just release into the country and tell them we'll do a hearing sometime later", said Republican negotiator Senator James Lankford. This, while Zelenskyy explained his country's counteroffensive wasn't able to achieve its goals since allies failed to provide anticipated weaponry. As a relentless ground war in eastern and southern Ukraine heads into winter, Ukraine deals with a troop shortage, uncertainty over military aid and divisions with the EU.

 

President Joe Biden shakes hands with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as they meet in the Oval Office of the White House, Tuesday, Dec. 12, 2023, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

 

Almost $106 billion in emergency spending was proposed by President Biden in October, inclusive of $61 billion for assistance to Ukraine for a year and $13.6 billion to secure the U.S. southern border. The package in limbo, Shalanda Young, Biden's budget director stated that the US. would run out of resources to assist Ukraine by the end of the year. "We are out of money --- and nearly out of time", she stated to congressional leaders in a letter.

"I don’t know whether he moved the needle at all."

"The only thing that is really holding this up at this point is the unwillingness of the White House so far to acknowledge that they’re going to have to deal with the border component, not just to pay for the current policies, which are releasing millions of people into the interior, but actually changes in the asylum system, changes in the mass release system known as parole."

Sen. John Cornyn, Republican of Texas (post-meeting)

Prior to his Washington trip, Zelenskyy travelled to Argentina in an effort to persuade Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban to drop objections to the start of European Union accession talks with Ukraine. While the two leaders spoke briefly on the sidelines of Argentinian President Javier Milei's inauguration in Buenos Aires, Orban seems committed to blocking $53.8 billion EU aid package for Ukraine, set to be discussed in Brussels during the Dec.14-15 summit. "We spoke with maximum honesty clearly, about our European affairs", said Zelenskyy.