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America will back Ukraine with military and financial aid until Russia’s invasion ends in failure, President Biden told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy during their historic appearance together at the White House on Wednesday, with the two leaders projecting unity and seeking to hold together an international coalition — and a fraying U.S. Congress — as the grinding war nears the 10-month mark.
The White House meeting, which marked Mr. Zelenskyy’s first trip outside of Ukraine since the war began on Feb. 24, offered the two men the chance for a rare face-to-face conversation, during which Mr. Biden said he looked deep into the Ukrainian president’s “soul” and saw that he “is who he says he is.”
“It’s clear who he is. He’s willing to give his life for his country,” Mr. Biden said of Mr. Zelenskyy during their joint press conference, which followed a roughly two-hour conversation in the Oval Office.
The appearance alongside Mr. Biden gave Mr. Zelenskyy, a onetime comedian who shot to global fame this year as the face of his country’s determined resistance to the Kremlin, perhaps his largest-ever platform to project his trademark confidence and defiance toward Russia and its president, Vladimir Putin, in particular. Dressed in his now-trademark army olive green shirt and combat boots, Mr. Zelenskyy expressed deep gratitude for U.S. military and financial aid, including a fresh package announced Wednesday that includes the long-awaited delivery of an American Patriot missile defense system.
While confident his nation will ultimately succeed, Mr. Zelenskyy also took a somber tone when asked what a “just peace” with Moscow might look like. With thousands of his people dead and his cities leveled by months of indiscriminate Russian shelling, he said such a concept no longer applies for many Ukrainians.
Russia, which illegally annexed Crimea from Kyiv in 2014, still controls along with its Ukrainian separatist allies a significant swath of Ukraine’s eastern and southern regions.
“For me as president, a ‘just peace’ is no compromises as to the sovereignty, freedom and territorial integrity of my country, the payback for all the damages inflicted by Russian aggression,” Mr. Zelenskyy said. “As a father, I would like to emphasize, you know, many parents lost their sons and daughters on the front lines. What is just peace for them? Money is nothing.”
“The longer the war lasts, the longer this aggression lasts, there will be more parents who live for the sake of vengeance, revenge,” he said. “I know a lot of people like that. There can’t be any just peace in the war that was imposed on us” by Russia.
Mr. Biden expressed sympathy for the horrors that the Ukrainian people have suffered. He said the U.S. and the West more broadly won’t abandon the Ukrainians during their hour of need.
“The American people have been with you every step of the way,” Mr. Biden said. “And we will stay with you. We will stay with you for as long as it takes.”
Mr. Biden said he’s confident NATO will remain united in its opposition to the Russian war effort, citing the alliance’s move to bring Finland and Sweden into the fold as proof that Mr. Putin’s goal of shattering the bloc has failed.
“I’ve never seen NATO or the [European Union] more united about anything at all. And I’ve seen no sign of that changing. They’re all aware of what’s at stake here,” Mr. Biden said.
Mr. Zelenskyy also tried to brush off mounting speculation in Washington that a Republican-led House could try to trim America’s financial backing for Ukraine’s war effort. Some conservatives have questioned the wisdom of continuing what looks to be a “blank check” for Ukrainian aid, which could top the $100 billion mark if the White House’s latest funding request is met.
