Zelensky’s visit to an ammunition plant in Pennsylvania along with several senior Democrats deeply angered Republican leaders, who characterized it as a partisan campaign event.
U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson wrote in an open letter that the visit was “designed to help the Democratic Party” and claimed it amounted to “election interference.”
He also called for the firing of the ambassador to Washington who arranged the visit to Ukraine.
The Republican-led House Oversight Committee also announced it would investigate whether Zelensky’s visit was an attempt to use a foreign leader to benefit Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign.
Her Republican presidential rival, Donald Trump, mocked Zelensky at a campaign event, calling him “the greatest salesman on the planet” and accusing him of refusing to make a “deal” with Moscow.
At a rally earlier on Tuesday, Trump praised Russia’s military might, saying, “They beat Hitler, they beat Napoleon. That’s what they do. They fight.”
The two have had a long and fraught relationship. In 2019, President Trump was impeached by the U.S. House of Representatives on charges that he pressured a Ukrainian leader to dig up damaging information about a political rival.
The debate has been clouded over the week and a half since Zelensky gave two speeches at the United Nations, stepping up efforts to persuade the United States and other allies to shore up support for a full-scale Russian invasion.
The details of Zelenskyy’s ‘victory plan’ to stop the war are being kept secret, but the strategy is likely to include appeals for continued military and financial support and security guarantees.
Zelensky also needs U.S. support to launch Western-made long-range missiles deep into Russian territory, which Biden has so far blocked.
“Let me be clear: Russia is not going to win the war… Ukraine is going to win the war,” Biden said before the private meeting began at the White House on Thursday evening.
He also pledged to support Kiev “in its path to accession both the EU and NATO.”
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Zelenskyy expressed gratitude for the United States’ “firm bipartisan support.”
With Russian troops advancing into eastern Ukraine, the outcome of Zelenskyy’s meeting with Biden is seen by many experts as a key moment in his attempt to shore up American support before the November election.
The day before the White House meeting, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced plans to revise Moscow’s nuclear doctrine to allow Russia to use nuclear weapons against non-nuclear states if they receive support from nuclear states.
A Putin spokesman later said this was meant to be a “certain signal” to the West.
