Zelensky seeking long-range missiles from US to end Russia's 'horrible war of aggression' in Ukraine
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00:00 Volodymyr Zelensky made a whirlwind return to Washington this Thursday.
00:03 Ukraine's president was seeking to shore up US support for Ukraine, delivering an upbeat
00:08 message on the war's progress while facing new questions about the flow of American dollars
00:12 that for 19 months have helped keep his troops in the fight against Russian forces.
00:17 The House Speaker, Kevin McCarthy, a Republican who faces tough opposition on support for
00:24 Ukraine among followers aligned to the former President Donald Trump, notably chose not
00:29 to join in the greeting of the Ukrainian president before the media cameras.
00:34 That left the House Democratic leader, Hakeem Jeffries, to escort Zelensky into the Capitol.
00:39 He will also be meeting with President Joe Biden at the White House, and he spoke with
00:43 military leaders at the Pentagon.
00:45 So an important time for Zelensky.
00:48 Let's get the analysis.
00:50 Mark Timicki joins us, non-resident fellow with the Atlantic Council's Eurasia Center.
00:54 Good evening to you, sir.
00:55 How do you see, how do you interpret this visit by Zelensky to Congress?
00:59 Marco, thank you for having me.
01:02 It's very important, as we all know, President Zelensky very rarely leaves Ukraine now, and
01:07 when he travels internationally, there's a very clear message.
01:09 In this case, he's been asking the United States to continue providing weapons, and
01:13 he's very grateful.
01:14 But he's also been pushing for the United States to send longer range missiles so that
01:19 the Ukrainians can strike and de-impose and other Russian military targets within Russian
01:25 borders, and that will prevent Russians from continuing this horrible war of aggression
01:31 against the Ukrainians.
01:32 What do you make of the dissent among certain Republicans about further military aid for
01:39 Ukraine?
01:40 What's your take on that?
01:41 I think it's very important to note that while there is some dissent within Congress, Ukraine
01:46 is still very much a strong bipartisan issue, meaning that Democrats and Republicans in
01:50 both the House and Senate support Ukraine.
01:53 And this is a very small contingent within the Republican Party.
01:56 This is not a view shared among most Republican elected officials.
02:01 However, that said, they still have a voting power, and there is a lot of turmoil now within
02:05 the Republican Party in the House trying to determine how much aid will be sent to Ukraine
02:10 at this time.
02:11 Indeed, it's kind of remarkable that one might think that there would still be this issue,
02:15 given there is an international arrest warrant out for Vladimir Putin for alleged war crimes.
02:21 It somehow seems that these Republicans could be aligning themselves with Putin.
02:25 Bizarre.
02:27 And we have seen in the past, unfortunately, that the Russian government has funded a lot
02:32 of these campaigns within not only the United States, but other parts of Western Europe,
02:36 etc.
02:37 So it's not outside the realm of possibility that there is some Kremlin activity happening
02:41 within the United States.
02:42 OK, so I think what you're saying and I think it's what we're hearing, it's a question you
02:46 follow the money, you find out who's doing what and why they're doing it.
02:49 Let's not go too far down that line.
02:51 We might get ourselves into trouble.
02:53 But I think maybe you hit the nail on the head.
02:56 In terms of the money that's going to Ukraine, obviously, Biden announcing another 320 odd
03:01 million as part of a 24 billion boost that he wants to put forward.
03:07 But what won't be part of that are the longer range missiles that Zelensky wants in order
03:12 to fire into Russia and to take the fight to the Russians.
03:16 What do you make of that issue?
03:19 It's unfortunate because countries such as the United Kingdom and France are finally
03:24 making that decision that they will send long range missiles to the Ukrainians.
03:28 And for whatever reason, to date, the United States financially, economically, through
03:34 humanitarian aid, defence, etc, has provided more than any other country in the world combined.
03:39 And so it's odd that the Biden administration is slowly walking on this step, whereas other
03:44 countries are more willing to provide these long range missiles.
03:48 But we've also seen in the last few months that Ukrainians are still capable of attacking
03:52 these targets within Russian territory through drones, surveillance strikes, etc.
03:58 Do you have a take on the grain import route?
04:01 Clearly Poland saying yesterday that they're now refusing to supply arms to Ukraine over
04:07 Zelensky's remarks when he spoke to the UN.
04:09 He spoke about those EU states that are quibbling over this grain passing through their countries,
04:17 Ukrainian grain.
04:18 They're actually doing Russia's work for them.
04:19 That was what Zelensky actually said.
04:21 Poland took offence to that now saying they're not going to supply arms.
04:24 How do you see this?
04:25 Is this something they genuinely mean or is it something that's more perhaps motivated
04:29 by a political need within the Polish borders with the election coming up?
04:34 It's certainly possible the latter.
04:35 I do know that President Duda of Poland and President Zelensky of Ukraine met and they
04:41 discussed these differences.
04:42 So the good news is while there are disagreements, the two leaders of the countries are coming
04:47 together, they're having a discussion and they're trying to resolve this as quickly
04:51 as they possibly can.
04:52 So I don't, I would hope rather that this will not last very long.
04:56 Mark Timnicki, thank you very much indeed for joining us.
04:58 Non-resident fellow with the Atlantic Council's Eurasia Centre.
05:01 Pleasure to speak to you, sir.
05:02 Thank you very much for joining us here on France 24.
05:04 Thank you.
05:05 Thank you.
05:06 We are watching all developments of course on Vladimir Zelensky's visit to the United
05:12 States.
05:13 When we find something that is happening, we will go live to it and bring it to you.