Waste of time: why Zelensky’s wishes went unfulfilled in Washington Italy: pensioner receives a water bill of 15,000 euros – and ends up in intensive care

Volodymyr Zelenskyj could have avoided this trip. On Tuesday, the Ukrainian president failed to break the impasse between Democrats and Republicans in Washington in the dispute over new arms deliveries to Ukraine. As a result, Zelensky had to leave the capital empty-handed – even though he heard numerous words of encouragement during his meetings with top politicians.

This actually came as no surprise and it is unclear why President Joe Biden invited his Ukrainian counterpart to appear at short notice. High-ranking Republicans had already announced at the beginning of this week that any negotiations with the Democrats could not be completed before the start of the long break around Christmas and New Year. On Tuesday, Mitch McConnell, the Republican group leader in the Senate, confirmed this. “It is virtually impossible” to reach an agreement through Congress in the coming days, McConnell said.

America’s treasuries are empty

In plain language, the danger increases with the fact that US arms shipments to Ukraine will have to be stopped in January because the corresponding treasuries in Washington are empty. However, new loans worth tens of billions can only be passed by the US parliament if Democrats first agree to the Republicans’ main demand: comprehensive immigration reform. The situation at the U.S. border with Mexico is “absolutely catastrophic,” House Speaker Mike Johnson said Tuesday. This issue must be addressed now as a tight border is critical to US security.

The Democrats have so far refused to meet the Republicans’ rather far-reaching demands and make concessions. Instead, there was repeated talk in the White House or in the Capitol of “blackmail” and an “early Christmas present” from the Republicans for Putin.

But for once, the right-wing party appears to have the better cards in this negotiating poker: many Democratic voters are also dissatisfied with the porous US-Mexico border. It is fitting that on Tuesday, representatives of the Biden administration reportedly submitted new proposals and invited further negotiations.

On the other hand, the Republicans’ ideas are too radical for many Democratic representatives. They say: the currently very generous right to asylum cannot simply be abolished in a few days. It is still completely unclear whether a compromise could even achieve a majority in the Republican-dominated House of Representatives and the Democratic-controlled Senate.

Zelenskyj sees Ukraine as having an advantage

There are voices in Washington claiming that the right-wing party has no interest in a bipartisan compromise on migration policy – for fear of losing an issue at the start of the 2024 election year on which Republicans think they can win votes.

There is no evidence for this statement. It is striking, however, that President Johnson on Tuesday questioned Ukraine’s war strategy, even though the losses of the Russian armed forces are now enormous. (The White House said Tuesday that Russia had lost 315,000 of the 360,000 soldiers who invaded Ukraine in February 2022.) This means the Republican, in power since late October, appears to be putting up a new hurdle to overcoming Kiev. to jump.

Zelensky, in turn, expressed his confidence about the further course of the war during his talks in Washington. Ukraine is making progress, he said, according to the publication Politico, also referring to the Black Sea. However, Kiev is dependent on air defense systems to better defend itself against the Russian invading army, Zelensky said.

In any case, the tired-looking Ukrainian president did not seem interested in insulting Biden. When Zelensky was asked at a joint press conference whether his country would continue to push for membership in the NATO defense alliance, he only smiled. Then he said: That was a very complicated question that the ‘great friend’ could answer better. (aargauerzeitung.ch)