Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will visit the White House Thursday, during a pivotal trip to the United States as he works to rally world leaders in the midst of Russia’s ongoing invasion.
Zelenskyy's visit comes as the U.S. Department of Defense announced a new aid package Wednesday worth an estimated $375 million that will provide Ukraine with additional munitions, armored vehicles, anti-tank weapons, and more.
“We cannot grow weary, we cannot look away, and we will not let up on our support for Ukraine,” President Joe Biden told world leaders during the UN general assembly Tuesday.
This week, Zelenskyy indicated he would present a "victory plan" to President Biden, which the Ukrainian leader has described as including elements on security infrastructure and coercing Russia to end the war diplomatically.
“If our partners support it, it will certainly help Ukraine compel Russia to end the war,” Zelenskyy previously said.
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The meeting between Zelenskyy and President Biden comes as Zelenskyy has repeatedly called for the U.S. to lift restrictions on the use of long-range strike capabilities to strike further in Russian territories against military airfields.
While earlier in the month when pressed on long-range weapons President Biden appeared to indicate an openness, telling reporters, “We are working that out right now,” he has not changed the policy to date, officials said.
“We'll continue those conversations with the Ukrainians, but again, there's been no change to our view about the use of those long-range strike capabilities inside Russia,” said White House National Security Communications Advisor John Kirby.
The administration has considered the battlefield impact, according to a source familiar, and has concerns about readiness and the risk of potential escalation.
U.S. officials have indicated they do not believe a specific capability will be decisive, that Russia has moved aircraft beyond the range of ATACMs and point to Ukraine’s abilities, like long-range drones, used against targets.
“And they continue to develop those capabilities. Other countries are investing in their ability to do that. And so there's more capability out there than just what's being talked about with these long-range strike capabilities that the US and the UK have,” U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said earlier in the month.
However, the lack of a policy change has been met with criticism from regional experts.
“We need to lift this restriction. It is an absurd way to do business. We would never impose this kind of restriction on ourselves if we were fighting existentially for the survival of our country," said Ret. Gen. Philip Breedlove, a former Supreme Allied Commander Europe.
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Breedlove argued that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “most successful weapon in this war so far is intimidation.”
“And this has paralyzed Western decision-making. We are nearly completely deterred,” said Breedlove.
In the breech, Ukraine has carried out operations in Russian territories as its focus on developing its capabilities.
“I must say that developing those capabilities locally helped both countries remove some kind of constraints. Like, there was expectations that hitting deep inside Russia is kind of crossing red lines. We proved, with so many strides deep inside Russia was what we produced in Ukraine, that there was no red lines. The risk of escalation - wee proved that we reached as deep inside Russia as we can and there is no risk of escalation. So finally, local capabilities gave a chance for both countries to understand that there are no red lines and there is no risk of escalation,” said Oleksandr Kamyshin, a strategic advisor to President Zelenskyy.
Kamyshin, who focuses on defense production, spoke with Scripps News ahead of Zelenskyy’s visit to Washington.
Before visiting the White House, Zelenskyy visited an ammunition plant in Pennsylvania that is aiding in the security support efforts.
Kamyshin said local and joint production efforts will be a “significant part” of Zelenskyy’s plan.
“We developed those capabilities, long-range strikers, that's mainly drones, but we got also missiles, and it will be never enough, but at least we've got significant volume of those things produced in Ukraine. Tat's engineering Ukrainian development and Ukrainian production, and rely on them gets [us] deep inside Russia,” said Kamyshin.
He underscored that Ukraine is capable, but that they are asking nations for funding for procurement from Ukrainian producers.
“In the last one and a half years, we moved from being not sure whether we can produce something to prove ourselves improving proving outside that we are very capable. Yes, we can produce enough, and yes, we can produce wide range of systems and equipment, weapons and munition, and the problem now is funding. So our capabilities to produce are much bigger than the funding available locally,” said Kamyshin.
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Over the last year, the U.S. hosted the U.S.-Ukraine Defense Industrial Base Conference that convened industry and government officials focused on weapons production, and a bilateral security agreement between the U.S. and Ukraine committed to bolstering cooperation, potentially with increased defense industrial cooperation.
Joint production is a “win-win” strategy, according to Federico Borsari, a resident fellow at the Center for European Policy Analysis, who notes companies have started discussions or established joint production
Borsari said there are “many other companies from Europe and the United States that are in Ukraine. They have, you know, people in Ukraine, studying, working alongside Ukrainians to devise new technologies to improve the systems and the products that they have donated to Ukrainians to test against Russians. This is a it’s, it's a critical part of you know how you improve your own systems to be prepared for the you know, potential conflict that you may face in the future. So I think we have seen positive, positive steps in this regard, but we are still lagging behind, because there could be much more that could be done in terms of joint production.”
The topic is expected to be part of the discussion between President Biden and President Zelenskyy, according to a U.S. official. President Biden said Thursday he will also be announcing a series of actions to accelerate support for the Ukrainian war effort.
But unlike previous visits to Washington, this visit for Zelenskyy is taking place with the 2024 elections in the backdrop.
Zelenskyy will also meet with Vice President Harris. He previously said he would present the victory plan to both presidential candidates.
“Expect a comprehensive, internally consistent document. What I would what I would expect is a series of ideas that make sense and pull in the same direction. But it would start with the notion that you can't have a reasonable peace, a just peace, a stable peace, unless Putin realizes he cannot conquer Ukraine,” said former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine John Herbst, who serves as senior director of the Atlantic Council's Eurasia Center.
But how the candidates respond to the plan remains to be seen.
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Harris has been a part of the administration’s commitment to support Ukraine, while Trump this week called Zelenskyy “the greatest salesman on Earth” and repeated assertions the war would not have happened under his administration.
Zelensky has had to thread a “narrow needle,” according to Herbst.
“And hopefully, from his, Zelenskyy, his point of view, Harris will provide the same amount of support in terms of quantity that Biden has provided, which is substantial, but without that timidity, which has been a gaping hole in our policy, a real weakness in our policy. And then there's Trump. We don't know what sort of policy Trump would pursue,” said Herbst, noting people in Trump’s camp who want to “appease” Putin “who have no understanding how dangerous Putin is to us,” as well as those who offer “a sensible approach which protects American interests in dealing with Putin's war in Ukraine.”
Breedlove notes Ukraine is in a “tough place.”
“I think they are very keen to try to chart a path ahead in the short term, so as not to leave too much to, you know, to possibilities that may not be acceptable in the future,” he said.