Sen. J.D. Vance walked out of a meeting between senators and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in which Zelenskyy attempted to make his case for more American aid in his country’s fight against Russia.
The Ohio Republican said nothing Zelenskyy was saying had changed his mind about providing U.S. taxpayer-funded aid to Ukraine.
“Vance is one of those skeptics, Ukraine skeptics, who is opposed to providing more aid to Ukraine,” CNN’s Manu Raju told anchor John Berman in video shared by Mediaite on Tuesday.
Raju noted that Vance at least showed up for the meeting, whereas a number of others hadn’t bothered.
“A handful of other senators decided not to go to this meeting because of their opposition to aid to Ukraine,” Raju said.
“Zelensky has a high hurdle here in order to convince Republicans, in particular, to green-light aid to Ukraine amid a separate dispute, a dispute over changing immigration laws to deal with the migrant crisis at the southern border with Mexico,” he explained. “Republicans want a deal on immigration first before they agree to more aid to Ukraine.
“So, even as Zelensky is making this pitch, we don’t expect many minds to be changed,” Raju said.
Raju asked Sen. James Lankford, who is heading up border policy negotiations for the Republicans, whether a deal on aid for Ukraine was possible if the border policy discussions were postponed.
“No,” Lankford said. “Again, we have a responsibility to the United States of America. That would mean me going to back to my state and saying, ‘I care about people in other countries but I don’t care about what’s happening in my own country. It’s important that we actually do two things at once here.”
Should Congress approve additional funds for Ukraine’s war with Russia?
Lankford added that he saw no way to resolve the question of additional aid this week, meaning it was probably going to remain an issue until sometime in 2024.
Meanwhile, Vance was praised on social media by Kevin Roberts, the president of The Heritage Foundation, who called the senator’s stand against additional funding for Ukraine “courageous.”
“We need more courageous leaders like [Vance] to speak the truth about what’s really happening in Washington,” Roberts posted on X Tuesday. “Predictably, ‘The Blob’” is outraged that anyone would have the audacity to question another $60 billion for Zelensky.
“Proud to stand with my friend from Ohio, who knows what time it is in America,” he added.
Unsurprisingly, Vance re-posted Roberts’ words to his own X account.
We need more courageous leaders like @JDVance1 to speak the truth about what’s really happening in Washington. Predictably, “The Blob” is outraged that anyone would have the audacity to question another $60 billion for Zelensky.
Proud to stand with my friend from Ohio, who… https://t.co/4wkWq4nAeg
— Kevin Roberts (@KevinRobertsTX) December 12, 2023
Not all Republican senators were as dismissive of Zelenskyy’s request as Vance, however.
North Carolina’s Thom Tillis reportedly told Jaju that the Ukrainian leaders received a “warm reception” from those senators who decided to attend the meeting.
Raju added that he had been told, though he didn’t say by whom, that Zelenskyy had not only told senators what his country needed to win the war with Russia, but also addressed questions of Ukrainian corruption directly.
“He did address some questions that were raised about potential corruption in Ukraine and about whether U.S. dollars were being used to, say, buy yachts and the like,” Raju said. “Zelensky addressed those concerns, we’re told, head-on.”
