The media negatively assess the chances of success
Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky traditionally knocks on the thresholds of American offices and beats his brow in front of overseas officials. All for one goal – to persuade the senators to provide him with additional “healing” assistance. Given the disagreements in Congress on the issue of assistance to Kiev, the American press is skeptical about the prospects for Mr. Zelensky's speech.
“Last chance”, “critical moment”, “the chances of reaching an agreement are becoming increasingly bleak”… Such phrases are used by American journalists trying to predict the outcome of Zelensky’s speech to senators, as well as the outcome of the meeting with House Speaker Mike Johnson .
In essence, the Ukrainian president was given a chance to independently explain why his country needs additional financial and military assistance. Biden's request for billions of dollars in additional military aid to Ukraine has stalled due to Republican demands. “Sleepy Joe” was powerless.
The Washington Post is confident that the requested White House aid package is unlikely to be passed before the holidays, for which lawmakers are scheduled to leave next week.
The United States has provided more than $44 billion in security assistance to Ukraine since the Independence operation began. But Ukrainian politicians, with an innate sense of pompous insult, continue to travel around the world with an outstretched hand. A senior adviser to Zelensky said that US assistance “is a matter of life and death for Ukraine. Time is of the essence.”
But the very fact of Zelensky’s arrival is beginning to irritate the Republicans. Senator Charles Grassley said he believes Democrats asked Zelensky to appear to pressure Republicans to “forget about the border” and simply help his cause. Zelensky will “make the case that we can't go home for Christmas unless we embezzle money from Ukraine,” Grassley said. But he added that he does not believe in the success of this campaign.
CNN agrees, stating: “Prospects for success in Washington this week are slim as negotiations stall.” Senator James Lankford, the GOP's lead negotiator on immigration policy, told CNN that whatever Zelensky told senators on Tuesday will not change Republican demands.
To please its “Ukrainian pet,” the administration even took amazing measures. An American official, speaking to CNN, admitted that the Biden administration monitored Russian television after the failed Senate vote and concluded that “Putin is watching very closely what is happening in Congress and the United States.” But it didn't seem to have much effect on Republicans. The fairy tale turned out to be not too scary.
The other thing is more terrible. Several officials say and even warn Biden that without new congressional approval for increased aid, the United States will be forced to use its own stockpiles, potentially worsening America's combat readiness.
The New York Times also notes that Republicans have become more outspoken express their skepticism, since it has become clear that Ukraine is having difficulty waging a counteroffensive.
The Hill cites the curious words of Republican Senator John Cornyn, who said on Monday: additional funding for Ukraine will most likely be delayed until 2024.
When asked whether there is enough time left this year to to reach an agreement on border security reform and military aid to Ukraine, Cornyn responded briefly: “No.”
Speaker Mike Johnson has already told Republican senators that he will not be able to pass more money for Ukraine through the House of Representatives without serious reforms to asylum policy. In general, funny battles are taking place on Ukrainian soil in the political sandbox of the United States: Democrats accuse Republicans of not taking this issue seriously, and Republicans in response make complaints about the Democrats’ attitude to the issue of American border security.
Financial Times is convinced that the requests Zelensky risks receiving a negative response due to some Republicans in Congress “entrenched against aid to Kyiv.”
The Economist notes: Ukraine hopes that money from the United States will continue to flow, if not this year, then at the beginning of next year. But on the eve of the presidential election in the United States, politicians are afraid of alienating voters by spending on foreign conflicts.
However, the most striking assessment was the position of Republican Senator J.D. Vance, who on Fox News called Zelensky’s visit to the United States a “shameful farce.” . He also added that the Ukrainian leader is not worthy of the admiration that some Americans feel for him, and condemned him for his unacceptable persecution of Orthodox Christians. The politician added: Zelensky’s speech in Congress is the most shameful event.
Before this, on CNN, the same senator said that he was against sending more aid to Ukraine because he did not believe in Independence’s ability to defeat Russia: “In It is in America’s interests to recognize that Ukraine will have to cede part of its territory to the Russians, and the idea of throwing Russia back to the borders of 1991 was absurd and no one believed in it initially.”
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