Ukrainian, European officials descend on Capitol Hill to press for funding

Ukrainian and eastern European officials are applying a full court press on Washington this week, trying to unstick Senate talks stalled over GOP demands to link Ukraine aid with U.S. policy changes on the southern border.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky dispatched his closest political allies — the president of the Ukrainian parliament, Ruslan Stefanchuk, and the head of his office, Andriy Yermak — to lobby lawmakers on following through on support for Ukraine.

“We are facing a war of attrition again,” Yermak said at the U.S. Institute of Peace, rallying support for Ukraine’s “peace formula” calling for Russia to withdraw from Ukrainian territory. 

“It’s very difficult for our people, but Ukrainians are still very motivated.”

The White House has sounded the alarm to Congress that it has run out of funds to supply Ukraine with weapons and is pushing lawmakers to approve $60 billion in aid that is expected to last throughout 2024.

But House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) has conditioned moving more Ukraine aid on changes to immigration policy beyond what the White House had proposed in its broader package of $100 billion — to also include aid for Israel and Taiwan.

“I explained that supplemental Ukraine funding is dependent upon enactment of transformative change to our nation’s border security laws,” Johnson wrote in a letter sent to the White House on Tuesday. 

Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.), a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and a stalwart supporter of Ukraine, told The Hill, “We are going to keep pressing,” when asked if Johnson would block aid if there was no resolution on immigration policy. 

“This is so important, we will reach agreement.”

Politicians and officials from Poland and the Baltic States — Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia — met with lawmakers on Capitol Hill this week, underscoring the urgency of American support. And newly appointed U.K. Foreign Secretary David Cameron will arrive in Washington on Wednesday to meet with Biden administration officials and lawmakers over the importance of continued support for Ukraine and on the conflict in the Middle East.

Nearly two years into Russia’s full-scale invasion, fractures are emerging in Europe’s solidarity for Ukraine.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who is an outlier in the European Union for pushing back against stalwart support for Ukraine, is seeing his position gain more support after far-right politicians were elected in Slovakia and the Netherlands. 

“We are here … to tell our colleagues on the Hill how important today is, the decision you are thinking about, and hopefully soon you’re making the decision,” said Marko Mihkelson, an Estonian lawmaker and chair of the foreign affairs committee. 

“Last time the world order collapsed, my country, a Baltic nation, lost its independence for 50 years.”

Mihkelson was in Washington a week after visiting Zelensky in Kyiv, and following a trip to Israel with his foreign affairs parliamentary colleagues from Latvia and Lithuania a week after the Hamas Oct. 7 attacks.

“This is extremely important today to support Ukraine, to support Israel, to support Taiwan, support all democracies around the world to stand against autocracies who would like to run over our rules-based world order.”

Rihards Kols, a Latvian parliamentarian and chair of the foreign affairs committee, pleaded with U.S. lawmakers at an event on Capitol Hill urging support for Ukraine and Israel. 

“I’ve seen too much with my own eyes, both traveling to Ukraine, speaking to Ukrainians, traveling to Israel, speaking to citizens of Israel,” he said of visiting the country in mid-October. 

“It sickens me to my stomach when there’s the question, do we need to assist? It’s not a question, we must. And that is something that I wish the Senate takes to their discussion and to the U.S. citizens as well.”

Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, who attended the event with his European colleagues, told The Hill there’s “good faith” on the part of Democrats and Republicans to come to an agreement on Ukraine aid.

“We’re going to continue to work with our Republican colleagues. They understand how important Ukraine aid is; I think we have the support here to get this done.” 

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) has set into motion an expected vote in the Senate on Wednesday to move forward on Biden’s supplemental request.

Cardin, responding to a question on uncertainty over the potential Wednesday vote, said the Senate would “continue to work on this until it gets done.”

“We’re not planning for a defeat, we’re planning for a victory.” 

Mihkelson, speaking to The Hill after leaving Washington, said he was optimistic following his meetings with lawmakers — which included House Freedom Caucus members who are largely opposed to Ukraine aid — that Congress will deliver on assistance. But he raised concern about long-term commitments.

“And then it’s a question of generally, strategy of the United States and how can we be sure that support will be prolonged, under the [potential] new administration as well, next year,” he said.

But Republicans leaving a classified briefing Tuesday afternoon on Ukraine expressed extreme frustration over a breakdown in talks with Democrats over GOP demands for changes to U.S. policy on the southern border. 

“We want to help Ukraine and Israel, but we have to have Democrats recognize that the trade here is, the deal is, we stop the open border. They don’t want to do that,” Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) said, leaving the classified briefing early. 

“There’s no reason to sit and listen to people talking about how important it is to help Israel, Ukraine. We know that, I agree with that fully,” he said. Noting Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) backs Ukraine funding, Romney added, “But he has insisted that we also secure our border, and that was in the president’s request from the very beginning of the supplemental.”

Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), leaving the briefing after Romney, was downbeat. 

“Republicans will have to live with the fact that our sons and daughters will be over, fighting when [Russian President] Vladimir Putin marches into a NATO country. They will rue the day that they decided to play politics with the future of Ukraine security,” Murphy said. 

“A cynic would believe that Republicans have made this immigration demand because they want Ukraine funding to go down. We need to have a discussion with Republicans that’s thoughtful and reasonable, and that hasn’t happened yet.”