CNN
—
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s visit to the White House on Thursday may be his last chance to convince the US president to accept his country’s war aims.
The exact details of the “success plan” that Zelensky plans to present to President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris in separate meetings are not known, but were close until they were presented to US leaders.
But according to people briefed on its broad outlines, the plan reflects the Ukrainian leader’s urgent plea for immediate help in the face of Russia’s invasion. Ahead of what is widely expected to be a close presidential election between Harris and former President Donald Trump, Zelensky is willing to offer long-term security guarantees that can withstand changes in US leadership.
People in the know said the plan was Zelensky’s response to growing war weariness even among his staunchest Western allies. Ukraine could still win — and not have to give up Russian-held territory to end the war — if enough aid rushed in.
That includes asking for permission to fire Western-supplied long-range weapons deep into Russian territory, a line Biden has been loathe to cross, but he has appeared more outspoken recently as he comes under pressure to relent.
Even if Biden decides to allow long-range fire, it’s unclear whether the change in policy will be announced publicly.
Biden is generally apt to take his time in making decisions about providing Ukraine with new capabilities. If Trump wins, Ukrainian officials — and many Americans — believe there is little time to waste, as November’s election heralds a major shift in the U.S. approach to war.
Trump has said the war can be “resolved” once he takes office, and Kevin has suggested ending US support for the war effort.
“Those cities are gone, they’re gone, and we continue to give billions of dollars to a man who refused to make a deal, Zelensky. There’s no deal he made that wouldn’t have been better than the situation you’re in now. During a campaign speech on Wednesday in Mint Hill, North Carolina, the destroyed “You have a country that cannot be rebuilt,” Trump said.
Such comments gave new weight to Thursday’s Oval Office talks, according to U.S. and European officials, who described the need to increase aid to Ukraine while Biden remains in office.
As part of Zelensky’s visit, the U.S. is expected to announce a major new defense package, which could delay shipments of equipment due to inventory shortages, according to two U.S. officials, CNN previously reported. On Wednesday, the US announced a $375 million package.
The president previewed Zelensky’s visit to the White House a day earlier, declaring on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly that his administration is “determined to ensure that Ukraine succeeds in its struggle for survival.”
“Tomorrow, I will announce a series of steps to accelerate support for Ukraine’s military – but we know that Ukraine’s future success is more about Ukrainians making the most of a free and independent future than what happens on the battlefield. Many have sacrificed for it,” he said.
Anxiety about the future of US support has colored many of Zelensky’s visits to Washington. When he moved to the White House last year, it was in part to pressure Republican congressional leaders to approve billions of dollars in new aid.
The aid was eventually passed, but support for Ukraine was not overwhelming among Trump’s allies. When Zelensky visits Capitol Hill on Thursday, he will not meet with Republican Speaker Mike Johnson.
“This war has taken away from the basic vitality of Russia. If you look at the number of Russians killed and wounded, a million Russians are leaving the country, yes, their war machine is humming, but their economy is sinking,” US National Security Adviser Jack Sullivan said on MSNBC. week. .” So I believe over time, whether it’s Putin or the people around him, they will see the futility of continuing to try to drive this. It is our duty to hasten that day.”
Zelensky’s separate meeting with Harris on Thursday — set to take place after the Ukrainian leader joins Biden — signals his desire to further develop his all-important leader-to-leader relationship if he wins.
In the weeks since taking the political baton from Biden, Harris and his aides have gone to great lengths to insist that there is no daylight between the vice president and the outgoing president on key matters of foreign policy.
The ongoing war between Ukraine and Russia is no exception, and they say Ukraine will continue to have the unwavering support of the United States against Russian aggression under a Harris presidency.
The vice president’s face-to-face with Zelensky on Thursday will mark their sixth meeting since the outbreak of war in February 2022. The vice president also saw Zelensky at the Munich Security Conference, days before the Russian attacks began in February 2022. The two discussed Russia’s military buildup around Ukraine and the possibility of a war.
In remarks at the Democratic National Convention last month, Harris deliberately took credit for America’s response.
“Five days before Russia attacked Ukraine, I met with President Zelensky to warn him of Russia’s planned invasion. I helped mobilize a global response — more than 50 countries — against Putin’s aggression,” he said. “As president, I will stand strong with Ukraine and our NATO allies.”
Advisers to the vice president say Trump’s public statements about the war in Ukraine do not make clear the starkly different foreign policy worldviews of the vice president and former president. (Trump is unlikely to sit down with the Ukrainian leader, despite saying last week that they would “probably” meet.)
Trump’s campaign has blasted Zelensky in an interview with The New Yorker published Sunday, in which Zelensky called vice presidential candidate JD Vance “too radical.”
“His message seems to be that Ukraine has to make a sacrifice. This brings us back to the question of cost and whose shoulders. The idea that the world should end this war at Ukraine’s expense is unacceptable,” Zelensky said in an interview. “For us, these are alarming signals, they Like coming from a potential vice president.”
Trump made the comments in North Carolina on Wednesday.
“The president of Ukraine is in our country. He harbors nefarious little ambitions towards me, your favorite president,” he said.
There is a quiet acknowledgment within the Biden administration that any assurances Zelensky might get from Biden and Harris this week about America’s commitment to supporting Ukraine may be ineffective under a different US president.
Zelensky was asked exactly what contingency plan he might have for such a situation when he signed a new US-Ukraine defense deal on the sidelines of the G7 meeting in Italy in June.
“If the people are with us, any leader will be with us in this struggle for freedom,” replied Zelensky.
