Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Wednesday met with President Biden and addressed Congress during his trip to Washington DC, which marked his first foreign visit since Russia invaded on February 24.
In his address to Congress, Zelensky thanked the chamber and the US for its support but mentioned that Ukraine doesn’t have “enough” artillery. His visit came after Congress unveiled a $1.7 trillion omnibus bill that includes another $45 billion in Ukraine aid, which will bring total US spending on the war to about $112 billion.
“We have artillery, yes. Thank you. We have it. Is it enough? Honestly, not really,” he said. Ahead of his visit, Zelensky said in a video recorded in Bakhmut that he would tell Congress that Ukraine is “grateful for their support, but it is not enough. It is a hint — it is not enough.”
Zelensky also suggested that the US should give Ukraine more advanced military equipment that the Biden administration has yet to provide. “Ukrainian soldiers can perfectly operate American tanks and planes themselves,” he said.
The Ukrainian leader portrayed Russia as a global threat that must be stopped and promised there would be a Ukrainian “victory.” Zelensky insisted that US support for Ukraine is not “charity” but an “investment” in “global security and democracy.”
Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY), one of the few members of Congress against arming Ukraine, agreed that aid to Ukraine wasn’t charity. “It is not charity. Charity would be given freely. The American taxpayers have been conscripted into making welfare payments to this foreign government,” Massie wrote on Twitter.
Earlier in the day, Zelensky held a joint press conference with President Biden after a closed-door meeting. Biden said that Zelensky is open to pursuing a “just peace,” signaling the Ukrainian leader was open to negotiations with Moscow. But later, when asked what his vision of a “just peace” would be, Zelensky said it means no compromises for Kyiv.
“For me, as a president, just peace is no compromises as to the sovereignty, freedom, and territorial integrity of my country, the payback for all the damages inflicted by Russian aggression,” he said. “There can’t be any just peace in the war that was imposed on us by these … inhumans, I would say.”
Zelensky reiterated that he’d put forward a peace proposal, but it involves Russian forces withdrawing from the territory it has captured, which is a non-starter for Moscow. Russian officials insist they will never leave the territories they have annexed, and at this point in the war, prospects for a negotiated solution are slim.
The US announced a new massive $1.85 billion aid package for Ukraine while Zelensky was in DC, including for the first time a Patriot air defense missile system. Before Zelensky’s arrival, one of his aides said the Ukrainian leader would be seeking “weapons, weapons, and more weapons.”
Well, this doesn’t sound good. For $112 BILLION BUCKS, you should be able to buy world peace. WHIRLED PEAS.
I don’t know about world peace but it will buy the ruin of the Russian military. Russias invasion was worse than a crime it was a blunder.
The Biden democrat sites I check out are 100% in agreement with you, and are quite clear that Russian nukes are not to be feared. There was also 100% support for the idea that Putin is a terrorist, and that the only acceptable solution is for Ukraine to take back everything in Ukraine, including Crimea.
Apparently Biden called Putin a terrorist multiple times, which pretty much cements this as the US declaration to the world that this is an all or nothing confrontation.
It seems that the time for talk is over. The ground in Ukraine won’t properly freeze until mid January apparently, at which time facts on the ground will clarify things.
One final takeaway: Patriot missiles cost several million dollars each???
They sure are expensive, but an SU35 costs a lot too. Lucky for Ukraine we have the money and Russia doesn’t. I hear Russia is running low on artillery shells, which is kind of a bummer for them. It looks like we are going to be giving Ukraine some 100 mile rocket systems so an improvement from HiMars at 50 miles. That will make things a bit tougher for the Russians. We still won’t give them the 150 mile system.
I think ultimately there could be some kind of negotiation, Ukraine not a member of NATO, Donbass and Crimea as somewhat more autonomous areas of Ukraine.
So long as the Russians think they are going to win, it won’t happen.
I agree with the Crimea and Donbas more autonomy concept because many of the Pro Russia peaceful habitants would admit off the record that they were better off before 2014.
Yeah but the $50k drones that are doing most of the damage are cheap. We are a rich nation, but sending out multi-million dollar missiles to shoot at such cheap weapons is not ideal.
The odds of any kind of negotiation seem remote. And politically active Americans are definitely in a take no prisoners frame of mind.
If we are rich, why are children going to bed hungry and people without homes and why do we attack Libya when all their citizens had housing and food? It was an advanced country and we reduced it to rubble?
We ARE rich. We just prioritize military spending over food and heealthcare and transportation.
We justify it by saying that, unlike other nations, our government is incapable of feeding people, providing people decent healthcare at an affordable price, or creating fast convenient transportation infrastructure.
And so here we are. At least trying to convince ourselves that we excel at killing people and blowing up buildings.
“I think ultimately there could be some kind of negotiation, Ukraine not a member of NATO, Donbass and Crimea as somewhat more autonomous areas of Ukraine.”
What could have been achieved waaay before any invasion. But who was unwilling to negotiate? Not Russia.
It is way easy to trust the result of a negotiation after you have destroyed the other guys army
Then why would Ukraine want to negotiate? Shouldn’t they demand an immediate surrender instead?
i am sure an immediate surrender would be accepted. The Ukrainians are not going to be able to drive to Moscow and take over Russia, so for this conflict to end it has to be negotiated. Even if they drive the Russians out of Ukraine so long as no agreement is negotiated the war is still on.
Always blame the US and always defend your boy, Putin.
I was once a Putin lover, so I Know a Putin lover when I see one. You.
Man, it really bothered you that I exposed you. I’m really enjoying this. Again, as always, I said Russia. I don’t like Putin any more than you do. But I never did. Can you say the same?
I agree, time for talk is over. Putin should apply Vald the impaler and get the Daddy Warbucks packen..
All In the name of AntiWar, of course.
Sometimes you must break your opponents arms so he doesn’t throw punches again.
And we all know how mentally astute Biden is
A mountain of money for a river of blood, what a positive step towards a better world. As long as all this waltzing over red lines doesn’t go abruptly awry with the first mushroom cloud. Democracy and I are SO well defended.
I can’t imagine the Russians are stupid enough to start a nuclear war, they have shown themselves to be pretty darn stupid I will admit but I don’t think it rises to that level. Anyway the notion implied in all this is that nuclear nations can do what the hell they want is unacceptable.
Russia’s only warm water ports are located in Crimea and Russia and the previous Elected president had a working relationship. How many warm water water ports does the US have? I can only assume that if you aren’t ignorant of facts, that you must be paid for your opinion….or maybe related to Zelensky? Or maybe you share his depraved interests as expressed in the video ZELENSKY DANCING IN HIGH HEELS.
I wanna see video of ZelBoy playing piano with his prick!
Oh wait…no I don’t…
I think you liked one of my comments already but just in case and for vector checks, I support Ukraine in this war. Plus have zero issues with an male actor dancing on heels, nothing depraving on that, in my opinion. Shoot, I myself have probably done that once or twice in my life just for fun and I have cried to movies too.
Your comment is like so many others. Russia is off their rocker with a mad dictator wanting to conquer Europe but not quite crazy enough to use nukes. I guess that makes people more comfortable. So, let’s put another round in the chamber in this game of Russian roulette that we are playing. The chamber is damn near full. Hold your breath and pull the trigger.
And you are saying Russia is stupid enough to use nukes.
I don’t want to find out. It’s nonsensical to be completely ruled out because it hasn’t happened yet. This isn’t like talking about the inevitability of war with Iran. Not thinking it will ever happen doesn’t mean that when it does happen, we’ll all be dead. Not the same when talking about Russia using nukes as if it can’t possibly happen and then does.
The exact balance of stupidity is debatable, but is reaching new highs for sure. So you’re in favor of abolishing the UN security council veto so nuclear and non nuclear states are equal?
What a sad state of life to have to wake up one day and say I hate everything that’s Russia.
I believe the US invasion of countries is far more aggressive than Russia has been. China is very aggressive and yet Biden is selling them cheap oil from our reserves which weakens the US. The Wuhan Virus research began at U of NC under Dr Ralph Baric and he bragged about “piggybacking” (his term) the SARS virus onto the SARS vitrus. When the moratorium on Gain of Function Research was initiated in 2014, Baric, who had hosted the head of the Wuhan Lab and worked with her, sent the virus to Wuhan and Fauci sent money.
the amount of that reserve oil sold to china was literally less than 2 days worth of US oil exports. probably it was time to let that go and replace it with fresh oil anyway.
fun fact = the US exports more oil every single day than it imports.
People like to remind warmongers how bad US is. But how do you reach the conscious of a person who is immoral?
Did you know thousands of eastern
Ukrainian and Russian speaking people have been repeatedly shelled and killed prior to Russian invasio? Do you support the US spending billions for the 2014 Coup that the US led and Biden helped direct? The elected president that the US removed from office got along with Russia before the Coup.
What you mean like the ILLEGAL invasion of Iraq by the US and it`s lackeys , looking for WMDs they new wern`t there .
Yes that was a crime, we payed in treasure ( imagine what the 6 trillion we wasted could have done) but not particularly in US blood. I hope we learned our lesson too.
And we get to decide that the waste of treasury is punishment enough while Russia gets it from the international community on top of the treasure they are wasting.
What about the blood of the Iraqi people, John?
Or don’t they count?
Do you recall the royal bitch Madeleine NotAtAllBright maintaining that the deaths of half a million Iraqi children was “worth it”, god damn her rotting corpse.
I do suspect that more Iraqis would be alive today if we had not invaded.
Well….YEAH
And for even way less than that, Putin and his oligarchs could’ve peacefully (zero killing) built an entire city with a great economy just couple kilometers across the border into Russia for all the Donbas separatists that want to be part of Russia, many of whom are now dead.
Your not looking at the big picture , this war is about not having US nukes on the Ukraine / Russian border with a flight time of 4 minutes to Moscow
$112 billion to support Ukraine who has been at war with Russia for 8 years after America supported coup. Just think, what if we never tried to regime change the country in the first place and kept our nose in our own business? Our neocon foreign policy is disgusting and caused all of this disaster.
And of course, all of our politicians line up in the House of the People to declare loyalty to a country that most Americans cannot find on a world map. Congress is supposed to work for the American PEOPLE, not the Ukrainians, not Israelis, not the arms industry and the MIC.
Two of the biggest grifters getting together, this can’t end well.
Stark realism…Simplistic and true.
Simplistic means maybe something different than you intended? Check definition?
‘Ahead of his visit, Zelensky said in a video recorded in Bakhmut that he would tell Congress that Ukraine is “grateful for their support, but it is not enough. It is a hint — it is not enough.” ‘ — it will never be enough in Zelensky’s eyes. He, and Biden and UK certainly, view Ukraine as a virgin being ravaged on the bonfire of evil totalitarianism communism — oh wait, evil non-communism. A virgin whose charring ashes float billions of $$$ into the hands of those slavering behind the scene.
Somewhat novel-esque but true…
Well stated! Have you seen Zelensky doing his tongue and pelvic thrusts in the video Zelenski Dancing in High Heels? This little munchkin knows how to fleece
Patricia:
And you did not give us a link?!!! lol
Ha Sometimes my links are removed so I let your fingers do the walking. I try to spread this info as my small opposition to the munchkin and his dis’structions
here it is. zelensky is 2nd from left.
Trippy! lol
Like something out of a horror show Donna! 😝
One of the hundreds of unexpected consequences of Biden’s effort to use Ukraine to undermine Russia is that NATO is not holding its own over there. Zelensky has produced the bodies. But NATO’s weapons have failed to humiliate Russia’s military. This is not the “piece of cake” that Biden thought it would be. We (the Biden administration) might even lose! So, it might be time, very soon, to switch to plan B (regroup and try again later somewhere other than Ukraine.)
How about switching to America’s real enemies; Iran and China. After the great successes in all America’s wars since ww2, China and Iran had better watch out.
I’m all for peace in Ukraine. I’m not for starting a war with Iran or China.
Devil’s Advocate: If you were to list the countries that have sent troops to fight wars in other countries in the last 50 years, would China and Iran rank near the top or near the bottom? Which 2 countries would be at the top of that list?
We have met the enemy, and it is us.
Pogo was a very wise possum.
Iran and China who says they are our enemies and if so why, or is it just /s ?
Iran has oil and China is an economic competitor, maybe there is something.
They are not done with Venezuela, they should go back and finish the job in Latin America. /s
Judging by his prior comments, I’m guessing sarcasm.
Thank you. The idea of fighting Russia, China and Iran at once is batty crazy. I have no inside scoop and simply believe things would calm down if the US quit attacking everybody who won’t follow a very limited vision of how to be healthy and have fun.
Iraq turned out not to be a cakewalk. We are still there, but the oil is flowing, so they did win for EXXON after all?
You are right, Biden and Zelensky and all the other neocon scum bags are the rapists. It is a gigantic gang raping Ukraine and all of Europe including Russia.
I’ve thought about why this midget wears green all the time, it’s raining DC mohhhney!
It’s Time for Bullying the midgets we don’t like.
Billionaire suit wearing Putin is safe.
The article is about Zelensky. You don’t have a clue how he feels about Putin, but you just can’t help yourself.
funny…but sad
Watch the video “Zelenski Dancing in High Heels’. This puppet was installed after US paid billions for Ukraine Coup in 2014 and replaced a democratically elected Ukraine President with someone the US chose. Biden also chose his son , Hunter, as a board member of Barisma Gas Co. for 1 million year. Hunter was quoted for as saying it was tough having to give your father half of what you earn. Tell me our country isn’t a banana republic with a military.
Banana republic with nukes.
Here is one thing that baffles me about this and most other wars. Take the DNA of 50 dead Russian and 50 dead Ukrainian soldiers. I bet that more than 90% are identical. So workers on both sides with identical DNA are killing one another? I know why but it has nothing to do with nationality or nationalism or flag. It has to do with what we called “ping-ping” in Amsterdam.
If the DoJ audit cannot be completed, who knows where all the dollars for Ukraine go? Answer: nobody knows.
nobody knows – or cares
The war criminals were applauding each other. If there would be a tribunal about war crimes ANGELA MERKEL, the former Chancellor of Germany would be the star witness pointing the finger at the REAL AGGRESSOR, the USA/NATO. She was there at the creation of the MINSK I&II agreements.
The DAUGHTER OF A PROTESTANT MINISTER said, the Minsk agreements were only meant to buy time to arm and train the Ukrainian army and to make Ukraine a NATO member”, the alliance with only one goal, to destroy Russia and take over the Russian natural mineral resources. All the arming and training with NATO inside Ukraine, a non NATO member, close to the Russian border for almost a decade confirms what she said. She is not known to be a liar, she was part of the negotiations. Maybe she had a talk with her father in heaven, the protestant minister, she can see what is being done to the Ukrainian people and the European NATO members includin her country, Germany,.
The US is deliberately destroying the EU and NATO and Ukraine, all to get to the Russian resources and the power that comes with control of the global energy market.
Biden and his neocon administration is the war criminal, NOT Putin. Russia is defending Russian interests against USA and NATO.
NomanYabu numero dos…!
“We have artillery, yes. Thank you. We have it. Is it enough? Honestly, not really,” he said. Ahead of his visit, Zelensky said in a video recorded in Bakhmut that he would tell Congress that Ukraine is “grateful for their support, but it is not enough. It is a hint — it is not enough.”
What a dumb f*ck. It will never be enough. That is the plan. The only determining factor in Washington’s mind is how much is too much. Meaning keeping their a$$ out of “direct” conflict is the only determining factor they are concerned about. Hint, you are a fool and you are allowing your country to be USED as cannon fodder.
Honestly I believe Zelensky knows well how much damage he is doing to his country. In my opinion he knows, because he cares about as much as Biden cares about this one.
Billions for the blue anon shaman and a middle finger for the railroad workers. Prog caucus joins in the orgy.
I have no problem with casual wear: I wear jeans every day of my life. But a green sweater? Does this man not have a suit and tie to meet with the POTUS? How unprofessional.
Can you imagine Vladimir Putin showing up in a sweater?
The biggest election fraud was the Zelensky promise of peace for Ukrainians. The MINSK agreements were the cover for the election fraud. He is well paid for the job he does on his country serving the American hegemon’s interests.
I heard from a guy from Ukraine. That “hand to the heart” gesture you saw in Congress is a typical Ukrainian Mafia gesture. That should tell you something. This is open mockery of the Americans.
When speaking to the Greek parliament through video, Zelensky had the introduction made by a Greek … who is a hardcore nazist. That was at least funny. And at least then the Greeks understood what a joke that was played on them. Not that the rest of the world was informed, except in small notes. Imagine if Putin had done that. You’d hear it EVERY TIME the war was mentioned.
By the way, Biden saying “Belensky” was very fitting. It’s the Biden-Elensky scam. They can’t let a new government reveal the grift that has been going on, with tax money sent to Ukraine and then channeled to the Democrats via Bankman’s FTX. No wonder an Obama-appointed prosecutor demanded that Bankman be arrested THE DAY BEFORE he was to be heard by Congress, thereby silencing him. No prosecutor would arrest a guy the day before a hearing. Except one from this corrupt leftist operation.
The flag stunt with Harris and Pelosi was enough to make me want to retch. I’m a little surprised they didn’t offer themselves to him as a gesture of US-Ukrainian unity.
Color me disgusted with the democratic party. It’s a shill for money and militarism.
The US flew Zelensky to the US on a 737N which bill out at $14,000 an hour to operate.
With all the cash embezzled from US aid and black market sale of America weapons to other parties; why didn’t Zelensky charter his own jet to fly to America?