lee jong eun

Last December, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited the United States for the second time since the start of the Russia-Ukraine War.

The U.S. reception, however, was starkly different from that of Zelenskyy’s previous visit, when he received a standing ovation during his address to the U.S. Congress and reassurances for continued U.S. support against Russia’s invasion. This time, Zelenskyy’s visit failed to convince Congress to approve additional aid to Ukraine.

Over the past year, U.S. domestic politics has shown signs of fatigue toward the Russia-Ukraine War. Particularly among U.S. Republicans, there is a growing sentiment that aid to Ukraine has become costly and has diverted resources and attention from other domestic and international issues. As many Congressional Republicans and party leadership, however, still support Ukraine’s war efforts, some amount of aid to Ukraine would have likely been approved this year by the U.S. Congress if it was a stand-alone policy issue.

However, aid to Ukraine has become linked to another contentious policy issue. Congressional Republicans have demanded that the Biden administration implement stricter border control and asylum policies as conditions for approving additional aid to Ukraine.

Despite months of negotiations, the White House and Congress have failed to broker an agreement on border control policies. The Biden administration has pressured Congressional Republicans to moderate their stance through linkages with additional foreign policy issues. In October, the Biden administration requested Congress to pass $106........

© The Korea Times