GOP senators say Zelenskyy's attempts to convince them in person to keep supporting Ukraine did not work

[Rudy Cornholer]

Let Joe Biden pay for it out of his personal bribe funds.

Republican senators said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's
request for more aid failed to convince them.

Zelenskyy issued the appeal during a 30-minute closed-door meeting
in US Capitol with Republican senators and House Speaker Mike
Johnson on Tuesday, per CNN.

In a post on X after the meeting, Zelenskyy said he informed Johnson
and the senators of Ukraine's progress holding off Russia's
invasion.

He said that included "liberating half of the land occupied by
Russia since 2022, winning the battle for the Black Sea, and
reforming the country to make it self-sufficient in the future."

But statements from the lawmakers after suggested that Zelenskyy did
not get far.

They generally stuck to their view that they wouldn't pass more aid
for Ukraine unless the White House goes along with their demands for
stricter measures at the US-Mexico border.


He criticized pointing to the White House's "unwillingness" to
consider the "border component" of the GOP's funding plan.

Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina said that the reluctance to
support new funding was retribution for the Biden administration
ignoring GOP concerns on the border.

He said an "obsession with not addressing border security after
three years, not doing anything meaningful, has caught up with
them."

"Your policy choices are biting you in the ass," he added, per Roll
Call.

Sen. Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma echoed his colleagues' statements.

"There's zero chance that an aid package to Ukraine and to Israel
will pass the House without real meaningful – real meaningful –
border security," Mullin told CNN. He said House Republicans were on
the same page.

Johnson, the speaker, joined senators in saying the "first
condition" on any Ukraine aid package would be "our own national
security," per C-SPAN.

Two other conditions he cited were "clarity" about the Biden
administration's strategy in Ukraine and "proper oversight" of the
spending of "precious taxpayer dollars."

Last Wednesday, all Senate Republicans, plus Sen. Bernie Sanders of
Vermont, voted against a $110 billion package proposed by President
Joe Biden, which allotted $61 billion for Ukraine alongside funds
for Israel and aid for Gaza, per Reuters.

The White House has said the funding for Ukraine is existential —
claiming it would lose the war without it, a view with which many
military experts agree.

https://www.businessinsider.com/gopers-say-zelenskyy-failed-to-
persuade-them-on-ukraine-aid-2023-12