Zelenskyy talks to Speaker of the House Johnson about assistance to Ukraine
He emphasised that the adoption of aid for Ukraine by the Congress was critically important
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy called on Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Mike Johnson and urged him to speed up the vote on the allocation of funds to help Ukraine in the amount of $60 billion.
"I told him about the situation on the battlefield, in particular about the rapid intensification of Russian air terror. Last week alone, Ukrainian cities and communities were hit by 190 missiles, 140 Shaheds and 700 UAVs. Ukraine's largest hydroelectric power station is out of commission.
In this situation, a swift passage of aid to Ukraine by Congress is critical. We are aware that there are different positions in the House of Representatives on how to do this, but the main thing is that the issue of assistance to Ukraine remains a factor of unity," Zelenskyy stressed.
The House of Representatives, where Republicans have a shaky arithmetic majority, has not yet put the bill on the floor – the speaker is expected to do so.
Johnson is aligned with the Trumpist wing of the Republican Party, and Trump's followers have openly advocated cutting off aid to Ukraine and threatened to remove the speaker from office if he brings the bill to a vote.
However, in April, the Republicans' numerical advantage in the House will be reduced to one vote; it is believed that if the Ukraine bill is brought to a vote, it will pass with the votes of most Democrats and a small number of Republicans.
There is talk in US political circles that Democrats could save Johnson from resigning in exchange for approving aid to Ukraine.
As the New York Times wrote three days ago, Johnson has said several times at various public events that he still wants to get the aid to Ukraine approved.
The newspaper noted that it is difficult to judge how sincere he was: in the past, Johnson has repeatedly voted against aid packages for Ukraine and generally tends to say what his interlocutors want him to say.
Background. House Committee Chairman McCaul said that the US Congress may approve funding for Ukraine in April, and Speaker Johnson intends to put the document to a vote after Easter.
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