Zelensky: The world cannot wait until the US elections in November to take measures to counter Putin

WASHINGTON – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Tuesday that decisive action must be taken to counter Russia’s offensive against his country ahead of the U.S. presidential election in November. In a speech on the sidelines of the NATO summit, he urged stronger support at a crucial but turbulent time in the American political calendar.

“It is time to step out of the shadows and make strong decisions and not wait until November or another month arrives. We must all be strong and uncompromising together,” Zelensky said.

Speaking in Washington, four months before an election marked by new uncertainty following President Joe Biden’s shaky debate performance, he directed his message to Republicans, whose anti-NATO president appears to be in a better position to reclaim the presidency.

The President of the United States, Zelensky added, must be “uncompromising in defending democracy and uncompromising towards (Russian President Vladimir) Putin and his entourage.”

In defending his war-ravaged country, Zelensky has proved a skillful manager of international relations, publicly appealing for help and sometimes complaining loudly to get the military support the country needs to defend itself against Russia.

This latest trip to Washington came against the backdrop of a new aid pledge – Biden announced on Tuesday that NATO allies will send dozens of air defense systems to Ukraine – but also ahead of an election that could bring a change of power. Zelensky said he hoped the campaign would not lead to a political realignment.

The Ukrainian president sought to minimize the potential fallout from an election victory by Donald Trump, who is a NATO skeptic and has criticized the Biden administration’s support for Kyiv during Russia’s war in Ukraine. Zelensky spoke at the Reagan Institute, named after Republican icon Ronald Reagan, and his appeal for support was aimed at an audience of GOP heavyweights that included Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. Zelensky will meet with lawmakers on Capitol Hill on Wednesday.

“I hope that if the American people elect President Trump, his policy toward Ukraine will not change,” Zelensky said after his speech in a question-and-answer session with Fox News host Bret Baier. “I hope the United States will never withdraw from NATO.”

Otherwise, he said, “the world will lose many countries” that “count on America.”

Zelensky, who will have a separate meeting with Biden on Thursday, said he does not know Trump well but had good conversations with him during his presidency. He noted, however, that they did not go through the Russia-Ukraine war together and that only during such a shared experience can one understand “whether you can rely on someone or not.”

As president, Trump was impeached by the House in late 2019 after pressuring Zelensky to announce an investigation into Biden and his son Hunter while withholding $400 million in military aid to Ukraine. Biden then launched a campaign to run against Trump in the 2020 election. Trump was ultimately acquitted by the Senate.

Despite the new aid announced on Tuesday and the warm welcome from the Republican-dominated audience at the Reagan Institute, Zelensky believes his most coveted prize – membership in the military alliance – remains out of reach. European and North American NATO countries are in no hurry to admit Ukraine, especially since the country is engaged in active hostilities with Russia that could drag them into a larger war.

Zelensky, who was hailed as a champion of democracy in Washington after the Russian invasion in 2022 but was forced to ask US lawmakers for help last year, now found himself once again a bridesmaid in the American capital.

At the NATO summit, he is trying to navigate America’s turbulent political landscape, while on the world stage, Biden is looking to demonstrate his strength and ability to continue to lead the alliance’s most important member, despite post-debate fears among some Democrats about his ability to remain in office for another four years.

Trump, meanwhile, criticized his allies for failing to meet their defense spending targets, raising concerns in Europe about continued U.S. support for NATO and Ukraine. His Republican backers in Congress were responsible for a months-long delay in U.S. military aid that allowed Russia to gain ground on decimated Ukrainian forces.

At a rally in Florida on Tuesday night, Trump again tried to take credit for the fact that the number of NATO member countries is now meeting its defense spending targets. When he first addressed NATO member countries as president, “nobody was paying.” But the significant increase only came after the Ukraine war began and under Biden’s presidency.

For Zelensky, meanwhile, the stakes were higher than ever. On Monday, Russia launched the heaviest bombing raid on Kyiv in nearly four months and one of the deadliest of the entire war, leveling a wing of Ukraine’s largest children’s hospital.

Against this backdrop, Biden announced that the US and other NATO members will send dozens of air defense systems to Ukraine in the coming months, including at least four of the powerful Patriot systems that the country desperately needs to counter the Russian advance in the war.

In the coming days, Zelensky will hear a chorus of support from the countries that have supplied his country with weapons, despite recent damaging delays by the United States and Europe in approving further aid.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz, whose country is the second richest in NATO, said: “Germany stands unwaveringly by the side of the Ukrainians, especially in these difficult times.”

But an invitation to join the alliance is not in sight, even though Russia’s recent attacks have bolstered support for Ukraine. NATO will not admit a new member until the conflict is resolved.

Instead, Zelensky is expected to present what Ukrainian politicians call a “bridge to membership.” This will outline concrete tasks that Ukraine must complete in order to join the Union, including government, economic and rule of law reforms.

Many in Ukraine see NATO membership as the only way to protect themselves from future Russian aggression after the war ends. But the years-long conflict, which has cost thousands of Ukrainian lives, has left many frustrated and skeptical that their country will ever join the Western alliance.

Although Zelensky is largely a successful politician on the world stage, he is struggling to maintain his popularity in Ukraine, which has declined in part because of ongoing questions about corruption, analysts say.

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AP writer Hanna Arhirova in Kyiv, Ukraine, contributed to this report.