By Canadian Press

Ukrainian president in U.S. capital pushing gridlocked lawmakers to advance aid funds

Dec 12, 2023 | 11:41 AM

WASHINGTON — There’s little evidence Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelenskyy has managed to change any minds on Capitol Hill.

Zelenskyy is in the U.S. capital in an effort to convince Republican lawmakers to advance additional military and humanitarian aid to Ukraine. 

But Republicans are refusing to approve more funding without a clear U.S. strategy on Ukraine, as well as measures to confront the migration crisis at the Mexico-U.S. border. 

House Speaker Mike Johnson says the White House has yet to provide more clarity on how U.S. aid will help bring an end to Ukraine’s war with Russia. 

Johnson says it’s up to the Senate to approve legislation already passed by the House that would restrict asylum claims and buttress border security. 

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Zelenskyy is scheduled to meet later Tuesday with U.S. President Joe Biden.

“They have not provided us the clarity and the detail that we’ve requested over and over,” Johnson said after members of Congress met with the Ukrainian president. 

“So what the Biden administration seems to be asking for is billions of additional dollars with no appropriate oversight, no clear strategy to win and none of the answers that I think the American people are owed.” 

Sen. Chuck Schumer, the Senate majority leader, described a Russian victory over Ukraine as a “very, very dangerous” outcome for the U.S. 

“We cannot let Putin influence, through any surrogate, what we need to do for Ukraine,” Schumer said. 

“If we don’t give the aid quickly, several things will happen. First, the military needs (it). But second, Europe and many other allies will say, ‘What is going on here, they’re not giving them the aid.'”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 12, 2023.

The Canadian Press