Volodymyr Zelenskyy goes to Washington

NICK EICHER, HOST: Up next: Ukraine’s endgame.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy traveled to the U.S. last week to address the United Nations, meet with both White House hopefuls and try to instill some confidence with Congress that he’s got a winning plan.

Also, President Joe Biden received Zelenskyy at the White House.

BIDEN: Let me be clear: Russia will not prevail. Ukraine will prevail and we'll continue to stand by you every step of the way. Right now, we have to strengthen Ukraine's position on the battlefield. And that's why today I'm proud to announce a new $2.4 billion package of security assistance.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: The Department of Defense says the package includes some long-range munitions, which is not without controversy as these are meant to strike inside Russia.

ZELENSKYY: Today we have a new support package. This will be a great help. And I raised with President Biden the plan of victory…

So what is that plan? Details aren’t public yet, but foreign policy observers have an educated guess.

IVANA STRADNER: Zelenskyy believes that we should definitely allow Ukraine to hit deep inside Russia, that’s the number one thing.

Ivana Stradner is a Russia expert with the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. She says one of Zelenskyy’s goals is to convince the U.S. to allow Ukraine to fully use Western weapons. And Biden’s not on board with that yet.

Zelenskyy also wants assurances from the West that Ukraine will get its territories back and be invited to join the NATO security alliance.

EICHER: But Stradner says Zelenskyy has another motive for selling his “victory plan” to Washington.

STRADNER: It seems to me that Zelensky also believes that we do not have also a victory plan for Ukraine.

On Capitol Hill, some House Republicans agree, including Rich McCormick of Georgia who spoke with our Leo Briceno.

REP. RICH MCCORMICK: …for him to come in here and give us a plan without us giving him a plan what we're going to support him with, that's unfair. How does he know what he's gonna be able to do if he doesn't even know what he's going to get?

REICHARD: Congress approved more than $60 billion in aid to Ukraine back in April. But when it did, it was on the condition that the White House submit a plan for what that aid would do.

The White House has not done that. It’s laid out no clear objectives beyond saying that Ukraine needs to “win this war.”

Before meeting with President Biden, Zelenskyy briefed members of Congress on his plan. Congressman McCormick thinks it’ll work, but it’s up to Washington.

REP. RICH MCCORMICK If we gave them everything they need to win this war, it'd be over within a year.

EICHER: Other Republicans say the U.S. should back off and let Ukraine’s neighbors step up. Here’s former President Donald Trump last week.

TRUMP: And one of the things that are very bothersome to me is the fact that Europe is paying only a small fraction of the money that the United States of America is paying. And we have an ocean between Russia and ourselves. They don't.

Zelenskyy met with the former president in New York at Trump Tower, one day after meeting with vice president Kamala Harris.

ZELENSKYY: I think we have common view that the war in Ukraine has to be stopped and Putin can't win, and Ukraine have to prevail…

REICHARD: Trump repeated his commitment to making a peace deal.

TRUMP: We have a very good relationship. And I also have a very good relationship, as you know, with President Putin. And I think, if we win, I think we're going to get it resolved very quickly.

Stradner of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies doubts it.

STRADNER: He believes that he can actually sit with Putin and shake hands and to claim the war will be over, which is exactly what Putin wants. Because for Putin, this is a protracted war. He doesn't want to end it anytime soon, but he needs a pause. He needs a pause to replenish his army, he needs a pause to strengthen his military…make no mistake, Putin is not willing to negotiate.

EICHER: Stradner says Putin is likely focused on economic sanctions that are starting to bite. And she thinks he’s also concerned about manpower and the political cost inside Russia.

STRADNER: So far, he has been using people coming from mostly ethnic minorities and sending them to the front lines. But if he starts knocking on the doors of kids in places such as Moscow and St Petersburg, that is going to be a very problematic thing for him, and he understands that.

REICHARD: Stradner believes that Putin’s goal is to get a temporary pause and keep the territory Russia has already occupied…and continue the conflict later.

But Zelenskyy achieving his goals requires regime change.

STRADNER: I do believe that there is a path to victory to Ukraine, and that is actually the collapse of Putin's regime and and the collapse of of the Kremlin.

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