President Biden warned on Tuesday that Russia is celebrating American division over providing aid to Ukraine, as President Volodymyr Zelensky hit a wall of resistance from congressional Republicans during a daylong lobbying blitz in Washington.
Speaking from the White House with Mr. Zelensky by his side, Mr. Biden said failing to support Ukraine would be a gift to Russian President Vladimir V. Putin.
“Putin is banking on the United States failing to deliver for Ukraine,” Mr. Biden said at the White House. “We must, we must, we must prove him wrong.”
Republican leaders in Congress have insisted that any new aid for Ukraine be paired with tighter security at the southern border, arguing that the migrant crisis has become a threat to national security.
But even Republican supporters of more aid for Ukraine appeared to have given up hope of approving it before Congress heads home for the holidays. Senator Mitch McConnell, the top Republican, suggested the effort was all but dead for the year.
Mr. Biden accused Republicans of holding military aid to Ukraine “hostage” in exchange for “an extreme Republican partisan agenda on the border.” He cited the comments of Russian broadcasters praising Republicans for refusing to approve the aid for Ukraine.
“This host of a Kremlin-run show said, ‘Well done Republicans, that’s good for us,’” Mr. Biden told reporters at a brief news conference. “If you’re being celebrated by Russian propagandists, it might be time to rethink what you’re doing. History, history will judge harshly those who turn their back on freedom’s cause.”
The effort by the two leaders comes as American support for Ukraine appears to be waning, despite Mr. Biden’s repeated pledge that the United States would be there for its ally “for as long as it takes.”
Even as the administration’s push for an additional $50 billion in security assistance for Ukraine appeared destined to fail within days, Mr. Biden sought to present an air of confidence about his chief foreign policy goals. He said his top aides were working toward “a bipartisan compromise” that could satisfy both sides.
“Compromise is how democracy works,” Mr. Biden insisted.
After meeting behind closed doors with Mr. Biden at the White House, Mr. Zelensky thanked the United States for coming to its aid, but said the support must continue.
“It’s very important that by the end of this year we can send very strong signal of our unity to the aggressor and the unity of Ukraine, America, Europe, the entire free world,” Mr. Zelensky said.
But there was no sign that the visit by Mr. Zelensky — who just a year ago received a hero’s welcome from Congress — had done anything to break an impasse over aid that has lasted for months.
Speaker Mike Johnson and several Senate Republicans emerged from private meetings with Mr. Zelensky unmoved by Mr. Zelensky’s requests for aid. The Republican lawmakers repeated their stance that they would not agree to any new aid for Ukraine unless Mr. Biden and Democrats bowed to their demands.
“Our first condition on any national security supplemental spending package is about our own national security,” Mr. Johnson told reporters shortly after noting that he had “reiterated” to Mr. Zelensky that “we stand with him against Putin’s brutal invasion.”
During Mr. Zelensky’s meeting with senators, a number of Republicans told him directly that securing the U.S. border with Mexico was the key to unlocking aid for his nation.
“I told President Zelensky, ‘Here’s the problem: It’s got nothing to do with you,’” Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina, told reporters after the session.
Kayla Guo and Robert Jimison contributed reporting.
The New York Times
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