Biden argues that not renewing aid to Ukraine would be ‘the greatest Christmas gift’ to Putin

The President of the United States, Joe Biden, has assured his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymir Zelenskiy, on Tuesday that not renewing aid to Ukraine would represent the “greatest Christmas gift” for the Russian President, Vladimir Putin. Zelenskiy has been in Washington since Monday to attempt what seems an almost impossible mission: try to persuade the U.S. Congress to approve, in the little that remains of the year, new funds to help his country in the war against Russia. He faces two colossal obstacles: the lack of time — parliamentarians are scheduled to adjourn for the vacations this Friday — and the lack of interest among the Republican party — which insists on linking such assistance to tougher measures on the border with Mexico.

His early morning visit to Capitol Hill, his third in a year, underscored how the political climate in Congress has changed over the past 12 months. In December of last year, when Democrats still controlled both chambers, he was greeted as a hero and delivered a speech to both chambers with lawmakers on their feet. Now, he was holding a closed-door meeting with senators — some of the Republicans had hinted that they would not assist — and would not meet with House members, except for House Speaker Mike Johnson and highest-ranking Democrat Hakeem Jeffries.

The White House has asked Congress for $61.4 billion in funding for military and economic aid to Ukraine. But Republican lawmakers, who have controlled the House of Representatives since January, have blocked every request for assistance since September. The House insists on making assistance to the invaded country conditional on Democrats approving a tightening of border control and the asylum application system, given the increased flow of migrants in the last two years.

These demands have nothing to do with the war. Zelenskiy can do nothing about them, but still they complicate, and very much so, his outlook for the fighting. For the Ukrainian president, continuing to receive U.S. aid is essential. It has been so since the beginning of the Russian invasion: Washington has already contributed more than $100 billion to the war effort. But now, Zelenskiy needs the help more than ever. Russian troops have relaunched their offensive and are advancing in the east of the country, while Ukraine continues to suffer the tens of thousands of casualties in two years of war and the heavy blow the conflict has dealt to its economy.

Some of the Republican lawmakers even criticized Zelenskiy’s mere presence on Capitol Hill. Ohio Senator JD Vance, from the hard-line wing of conservatives, had described the visit as a pressure measure to make them feel “guilty” and declared himself “offended.”

After the session with the senators, the tone of the reactions depended on the party to which the respondents belonged. Senate Majority Leader, Democrat Charles Schumer — one of the strongest advocates of backing Ukraine — described the meeting as “very powerful.” “President Zelenskiy made it so clear how he needs help, but if he gets the help, he can win this war.”

Jeffries, for his part, stated: “We also talked about values, and the fact that we’re standing together with the people of Ukraine, because we’re standing up for democracy. We’re standing up for freedom. We’re standing up for truth. We’re standing up for good versus evil.”

Criticism from Republicans

On the other side of the political spectrum, Alaska Senator Dan Sullivan, a Republican, stressed: “We definitely want to help them. There’s no doubt. We just have to have a serious border deal.” Other Republican legislators, such as Lindsey Graham, from Georgia, called on Biden to be the one to go to the Capitol and negotiate on immigration.

The Republican position has been hardening significantly over the past year. Throughout the first half of it, opposition to helping Ukraine was only raised among some congress-members from the hard wing of the party. The Senate was almost unanimous, both in the Democratic and Republican groups, in its solidarity with the invaded country.

But budget frictions have been increasing between the two parties, and with them, Republican demands for spending restraint. The resistance to granting more funds to the war effort has ceased to be something unique to the most right-wing Republican faction, and has spread to the moderates too. They consider that what was sent for their approval does not have sufficient transparency, that the contribution made so far has already been sufficient, and that these funds should be used for other causes on American soil. To this, the White House has responded saying that this money is not actually sent to Ukraine, but is used to purchase weapons and it is the US Defense companies that receive it.

“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 thinkthe American people are owed,” Johnson noted after his meeting with Zelenskiy.

Now, even Republican lawmakers who do support aid to Ukraine, which they see as key in the fight against Putin’s autocracy, insist that stronger measures against illegal immigration must be put in place.

With entrenched positions, and deep divisions between the two parties on immigration reform - an issue on which they have been unable to agree for the past three decades - it seems unlikely that lawmakers will be able to reach an agreement before the start of the holiday legislative recess. Parliamentarians could opt to delay the vacations, although with no prospect of a deal on the horizon that option is not currently on the table.

The White House continues its against-the-clock lobbying campaign to win the approval of lawmakers. Among its arguments, and those of Zelenskiy, it argues that the big beneficiary of the United States withdrawing its support for Ukraine will be Putin. White House National Security Council spokeswoman Adrienne Watson noted that Russia seems to believe that a military stalemate over the winter will undermine support for Ukraine and give Moscow the upper hand.

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