Keeping US public onside is a crucial battle for Ukraine

Volodymyr Zelensky’s aim to leave Washington armed to the teeth with new weapons is mission accomplished but the American public’s support for assisting Ukraine is beginning to wane.

US President Joe Biden and Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky meet in the Oval Office of the White House. Picture: Brendan Smialowski / AFP

On the 300th day of the conflict in Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelensky will be feted as a war hero in Washington. He will arrive as the man who stood up to President Vladimir Putin of Russia and refused to be defeated – but it is what he will leave with that is of more consequence.

The visit is symbolically important and is designed to show that as winter bites in Europe and support for Kyiv begins to soften in some nations in the face of high energy bills, the United States has Zelensky’s back.

This will come in the form of a new $US46 billion ($68 billion) package of military support. Considering that in the first 10 months of the war, according to the Kiel Institute, a think tank, the US has spent about $US23 billion supercharging the Ukrainian military, it is a dramatic upping of the ante by Washington.

Most significant is the agreement to supply the Patriot missile defence system. It will give the Ukrainians the ability to shoot down long-range missiles more effectively and at greater distance, protecting some of the critical infrastructure that has been pounded in recent months.

It is a system on a different scale from other air-defence weapons already provided by the US and other NATO nations.

One drawback is that it could take months for the Ukrainian military to learn how to fire them in combat. Training will take place in Germany.

If Zelensky’s principal aim was to leave Washington armed to the teeth, it is mission accomplished, but the visit has other purposes, not least from the US perspective.

Next month the House of Representatives comes under the control of the Republicans. Some on the right of the party have questioned the “blank cheque” approach to Ukraine by the White House and argued that the money should be spent on domestic issues.

Securing the new funding removes the risk of it being rejected by a hostile Congress. It will also show some on the left of President Joe Biden’s party that there will be no wavering in the White House.

In October 30 members of the Democrats’ “progressive caucus” in the House signed a letter saying that it was time to start negotiating with Russia. A few hours later the letter was withdrawn and a junior member of staff was blamed for its release.

The American people will also be left in no doubt that Biden is four-square behind Zelensky. Although Americans are still largely in favour of assisting Ukraine, support is beginning to wane.

A recent poll by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs think tank found that 48 per cent of people said that the US should support Ukraine “for as long as it takes, even if households have to pay higher gas and food prices”. That figure represents a 10-point drop from July, when 58 per cent were in favour of supporting Ukraine for as long as necessary.

Zelensky’s visit also has benefits for Biden, whose approval ratings have not recovered following the deaths of 13 US soldiers when the country hastily withdrew from Afghanistan last year.

In Ukraine it is US money, not blood, being spilt and while Biden is a western ruler who has not visited Kyiv during the war, he can project himself as a leader in what has become the biggest conventional conflict in Europe since World War II.

It is the first time Zelensky has left Ukraine since the Russian invasion. He will return with the weapons he hopes will win the war.

The Times