Zelensky asks for green light to fire U.S.-made missiles at Russia in visit to Washington

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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky pushed for further U.S. support for his country’s war effort, including permission to fire American-made missiles into Russian territory, in his latest visit to Washington, even as backing for Kyiv becomes an increasingly divisive issue in the U.S.’s neck-and-neck presidential race.

At a White House meeting on Thursday with Mr. Zelensky, U.S. President Joe Biden was non-committal on Ukraine’s missile request. He did, however, order the Department of Defence to ensure all authorized U.S. aid for Ukraine has been delivered before his term ends in January – a tacit acknowledgement that the next administration may cut off the support.

Mr. Zelensky’s visit itself, six weeks ahead of the presidential vote in the U.S., turned into an electoral flashpoint. Donald Trump derided him on the campaign trail after the Ukrainian leader in an interview painted the Republican presidential nominee as naive by promising to immediately end the war.

Meanwhile, House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson refused to meet with Mr. Zelensky. The Republican leader accused him of helping Democrats by visiting a Pennsylvania weapons factory earlier in the week, describing it as electioneering in a crucial swing state.

For her part, Vice-President Kamala Harris, the Democratic contender for the White House, used Mr. Zelensky’s visit to accuse her political rivals of wanting Ukraine to “surrender” to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Mr. Zelensky, in the U.S. this week for the United Nations General Assembly in New York, travelled to Washington for separate sit-downs with Mr. Biden and Ms. Harris. He said he was there to present them with his “victory plan” and explain how the U.S. could help.

Both he and the White House acknowledged that his request to hit targets within Russia using U.S. missiles was on the agenda. Kyiv says this ability is crucial for blowing up the sites that Russia uses to fire its own missiles at Ukrainian power plants and other infrastructure. But the U.S. has so far withheld permission for fear of escalating the war, which Mr. Putin has threatened to do if NATO munitions are used on Russian territory.

“We need to urgently strengthen Ukraine’s air defence to save thousands of lives and reduce Russian terror to zero,” Mr. Zelensky told reporters, standing next to Ms. Harris at her office.

But the White House swiftly poured cold water on the idea: “There’s no announcement,” press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said at a media briefing.

Ukraine’s Zelensky heads to U.S. to set out ‘victory plan’ at perilous moment in war with Russia

Still, Mr. Biden said during his Oval Office sit-down with Mr. Zelensky, he had “directed the Pentagon to allocate all the remaining security assistance” available for Ukraine “by the end of my term” to “strengthen Ukraine’s position in future negotiations.” The Biden administration has secured nearly US$140-billion in aid for Ukraine since Russia’s invasion in February, 2022, with the most recent package approved by Congress last spring.

Mr. Trump and other Republican leaders suggested Ukraine might not get anything more if they take back the White House. On the stump earlier this week, the former president decried U.S. support for Mr. Zelensky.

“We continue to give billions of dollars to a man who refused to make a deal” with Russia, Mr. Trump told a Wednesday rally. Even so, he said he is set to meet with Mr. Zelensky at Trump Tower on Friday.

Mr. Johnson snubbed a Capitol Hill sit-down between Mr. Zelensky and lawmakers on Thursday. Instead, he called on the Ukrainian President to fire his ambassador to the U.S. for arranging the Sunday factory tour in Scranton, Pa., Mr. Biden’s hometown. Mr. Zelensky visited the facility, which produces artillery shells sent to Ukraine, with Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro and Senator Bob Casey, both Democrats.

“The tour was clearly a partisan campaign event designed to help Democrats and is clearly election interference,” Mr. Johnson wrote in a Wednesday letter to Mr. Zelensky.

The White House said it was the Ukrainian President who requested the tour and also pointed to a July event he did with Utah’s Republican Governor, Spencer Cox.

At Ms. Harris’s meeting with Mr. Zelensky, she accused “some in my country” of wanting Ukraine to “surrender.” Without naming anyone, she enumerated the details of a “peace plan” floated by J.D. Vance, Mr. Trump’s vice-presidential running mate: Ukraine giving up territory to Russia and adopting official neutrality.

“These proposals are the same as those of Putin,” Ms. Harris said. “They are not proposals for peace. Instead, they are proposals for surrender, which is dangerous and unacceptable.”

In a New Yorker interview published earlier in the week, Mr. Zelensky dismissed Mr. Trump’s campaign promise to immediately end the war in Ukraine if elected.

“Trump doesn’t really know how to stop the war even if he might think he knows how,” the Ukrainian President told the magazine. He also criticized Mr. Vance as “too radical” and equated his peace plan with British prime minister Neville Chamberlain’s policy of appeasement toward Adolf Hitler.

Mr. Zelensky and Mr. Trump have a complicated history. In 2019, the then-U.S. president was impeached by the House of Representatives for withholding nearly US$400-million in military aid to Kyiv in a bid to cajole Mr. Zelensky into launching an investigation of Mr. Biden over his son, Hunter Biden, and his business dealings in Ukraine.

Mr. Zelensky’s office did not respond to a request for comment Thursday on the Republican attacks or a question about whether the note Mr. Trump published was genuine.