It’s a last-ditch plea: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is holding more meetings on Tuesday, in Congress and at the White House, to prevent Washington from cutting off supplies to his country at war.
Because time is running out. Russia gave new proof on Tuesday morning of the intensification of its pressure on the front, by claiming “significant” advances in the southern region of Zaporizhia.
According to the Ukrainian army, Russia is increasing attacks all along the front, some 1,000 kilometers long, and Vladimir Putin has been proud of the progress of his army in recent days. Conversely, kyiv’s major summer offensive failed.
For the third time in a year, the Ukrainian leader will walk the corridors of the American Congress, this time the scene of very tense negotiations around additional aid for kyiv.
“This will be his most important visit,” said Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer.
The US Congress has committed more than $110 billion since the start of the Russian invasion in February 2022, but stumbled last week on the new component demanded by US President Joe Biden – some $61 billion.
“Putin and his clique”
Democrats favor new funds. The Republicans are not totally opposed to it, but in return for their vote are demanding major changes to US migration policy.
On this point, discussions are slipping. Enough to frustrate the Ukrainian president.
“If there is anyone who rejoices in the endless negotiations at the Capitol, it is Putin and his clique of deranged people,” accused Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday.
The Kremlin, for its part, warned on Tuesday that any new American aid was doomed to a “fiasco”, judging that the “tens of billions of dollars injected into Ukraine did not help it succeed on the battlefield”.
Vladimir Putin welcomed the fact that the Ukrainian army was arriving “short” of weapons, according to a video broadcast on Sunday and filmed during a ceremony on Friday.
“When you don’t have your own base, your own ideology, your own (defense) industry, your own money, nothing of your own, you have no future,” he said about Ukraine. “But we have all that. »
Russia, which has turned its economy towards the war effort, is pushing ever harder into southern and eastern Ukraine.
The Russian army has advanced “significantly” in the Zaporizhia region, in partially occupied southern Ukraine, Moscow-installed governor Yevgeny Balitsky said on Tuesday.
The Russians also launched two days ago a “massive offensive” around Avdiïvka and Mariinka, hot spots on the eastern front, declared Oleksandr Tarnavsky, Ukrainian commander of the area, assuring that his troops “firmly held” their positions. .
The AFP is not able to verify these assertions by the belligerents.
Moscow also continues its daily strikes across Ukraine. On Tuesday, a bombing killed a 73-year-old man in Kupiansk, in the northeast, according to local authorities.
” Short of money “
Volodymyr Zelensky therefore intends to repeat to American senators, meeting at 9 a.m. EST, that American help is essential to stop Mr. Putin.
He must then speak with the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Republican Mike Johnson, a particularly important exchange.
His predecessor was dismissed only a few weeks ago by Trumpist elected officials opposed to additional aid to kyiv, accused among other things of having concluded a “secret agreement” on Ukraine with the Democrats.
Congress theoretically only has until Friday — when the congressional recess begins — to reach an agreement on additional funds. The White House has already warned that it will “run out of money” by the end of the year if nothing is done.
Ukraine fears that a lasting blockage in the United States could also affect European military aid to kyiv, with the EU also debating how to follow up on its assistance.
Without a new envelope, Vladimir Putin will “cross” Ukraine and Europe, warned American Senator Chuck Schumer.
Aware that the sense of urgency has faded in Washington, President Biden asked Congress to combine his request for aid for Ukraine with a request of around 14 billion for Israel, an ally of the United States in war against Hamas.
So far, in vain.
The Democratic leader will receive his Ukrainian counterpart early this afternoon at the White House, before a joint press conference.
The opportunity for the American president to reaffirm his support for the Ukrainians, “particularly in this very difficult period”, underlined a spokesperson for the American executive, John Kirby.