His country’s future at stake, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told senators Tuesday that with US aid his fighters can beat back the Russian invasion. But with funding in doubt, his grim trip to Capitol Hill was far from the hero’s welcome he received last winter. Zelensky‘s visit to Washington came as President Joe Biden’s request for an additional $110 billion US aid package for Ukraine, Israel and other national security needs is at serious risk of collapse in Congress.Republicans are insisting on linking it to strict US-Mexico border security changes that Democrats decry.
Flanked by Democratic Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Republican Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, Zelenskyy entered a private meeting with senators with a public bipartisan show of support and to some applause. But more than an hour later few senators minds appeared changed. Schumer called it a “very powerful” meeting, but gave no update on stalled negotiations.
Meanwhile, a declassified US intelligence report assessed that the Ukraine war has cost Russia 315,000 dead and injured troops, or nearly 90% of the personnel it had when the conflict began, a source familiar with the intelligence said. The report also assessed that Moscow’s losses in personnel and armored vehicles to Ukraine’s military have set back Russia’s military modernization by 18 years, the source said.