The Speaker of the American House, Mike Johnson, demanded that Ukraine expel its ambassador from Washington, as the conflict between the Republican Party and Volodymyr Zelensky intensified.
Johnson’s intervention comes after President Zelensky visited an arms factory in Scranton, Pennsylvania – the hometown of President Joe Biden – with several top Democrats.
In a public letter, a senior Republican said the trip was “designed to help Democrats” and amounted to “electioneering”.
The row threatens to overshadow Zelensky’s meeting with President Joe Biden on Thursday, when he will present a “plan for victory” in his country’s war with Russia.
Since arriving in the US on Sunday, Zelensky has stepped up efforts to persuade the US and other allies to support Ukraine as it defends Russian advances.
On Thursday, Biden announced that the US would send $7.9bn (£5.9bn) worth of military aid to Ukraine in a major boost as his presidency draws to a close.
The aid, part of a $61bn package passed by Congress in April, includes additional Patriot air defense missiles and long-range weapons.
The weapons package will be approved by the president’s executive order and will draw on the Pentagon’s existing resources to deliver weapons as quickly as possible.
House Republicans blocked the Biden administration’s $61 billion military package earlier this year, before withdrawing and passing legislation in April. Before that, supplies of weapons to Ukraine had been dry for several months.
The US has been Ukraine’s largest foreign donor, with $56bn allocated to defense so far.
Responding to the aid package, Zelensky thanked the US and said “thanks to Joe Biden, the US Congress and both parties”.
The president of Ukraine said that this aid will be used “in the most effective and transparent way” for the benefit of “Ukraine’s victory, a just and lasting peace, and the security of the Atlantic”.
Zelensky planned to present the key points he made in Thursday’s statement to two presidential candidates: Kamala Harris and Donald Trump.
However, a senior official in Donald Trump’s campaign said the Republican nominee will not meet with the Ukrainian leader during his trip to the US this week.
Trump and Zelensky have long had a strained relationship. In 2019, Trump was impeached by the US House for allegedly pressuring the Ukrainian leader to dig up damaging information about a political rival.
He has been echoing many times in speaking Russian about the war. At a campaign event on Wednesday he mocked Zelensky as “the world’s biggest traitor” and accused the Ukrainian leader of refusing to “make a deal” with Moscow.
In an earlier meeting on Tuesday, Trump also praised Russia’s military power, saying: “They beat Hitler, they beat Napoleon – that’s what they do, they fight.”
The former president’s speech comes amid a growing dispute between Zelensky and Republicans over his visit to an ammunition factory in Biden’s hometown of Scranton in the key state of Pennsylvania.
During the visit, Zelensky appeared with Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro and several other top Democrats. Speaker Johnson accused the president of participating in a “party campaign event” designed to help Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign.
Meanwhile, the Republican-led House Oversight Committee has announced that it will investigate whether Zelensky’s trip was an attempt to use a foreign leader to benefit the campaign of Vice President Kamala Harris.
House Republicans blocked the Biden administration’s $61 billion military package earlier this year, before withdrawing and passing legislation in April.
Before that, supplies of weapons to Ukraine had been dry for several months.
The US has been Ukraine’s largest foreign donor, with $56bn allocated to defense so far.
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