Zelensky thanks US Congress after Johnson bucks conservatives to pass Ukraine aid

Ukraine’s president thanked the United States Congress in an interview on Sunday after House Speaker Mike Johnson a day earlier bucked his party’s conservative wing and ushered through the passage of legislation providing military assistance to Kyiv.

Volodymyr Zelensky appeared on NBC’s Meet the Press and thanked Mr Johnson specifically for what he said was “a show of leadership and strength of the United States” after the House of Representatives approved a $60.8bn bill to help Ukraine purchase weapon systems and munitions and to restock US supplies that were depleted by previous aid packages.

The legislation is set for a final vote in the Senate on Tuesday where it is expected to pass; the upper chamber had originally voted on the legislation in February. The House took months to pick apart the legislation and make changes, while Ukraine’s military situation grew increasingly desperate. Mr Johnson finally brought the legislation to the floor this week only to suffer a major rebellion from conservatives; the legislation received more support from Democrats than Republicans on final passage.

“I would like to thank Speaker Johnson and President Biden,” Mr Zelensky said, adding that it would “send the Kremlin a powerful signal” about the US’s commitment to the war.

But that committment is far from ironclad, a fact that was evident on Sunday to members of both parties. Senator Dan Sullivan of Alaska, a Republican, could not say that Washington would remain a committed ally to Kyiv if Donald Trump were at the helm in 2025 as he was interviewed on Face the Nation.

«If Donald Trump wins this next election, can you guarantee the US will stay with Ukraine?” asked CBS’s Margaret Brennan.

“I can’t guarantee anything,” Mr Sullivan