Washington does not believe Zelensky's crocodile tears anymore

On December 5, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will try to convince US congressmen to allocate more funds to Ukraine from the US budget.

Photo: CreativeCommons by President Of Ukraine, PDM

Zelensky has a week left to convince US Congress to give Ukraine more money

The White House invited Ukrainian President Zelensky to address congressional senators behind closed doors via video link on December 5.

A group of deputies from the Servant of the People Party led by faction leader David Arakhamia have been advertising Ukraine's needs in Washington lately. Ukrainian Parliament Speaker Ruslan Stefanchuk also arrived in the US capital. The head of Zelensky's Office Andrii Yermak and Defence Minister Rustem Umerov are going to arrive soon as well. All these officials will be there to convince congressmen to support the bill on additional assistance package for Ukraine.

The US already knows what's at stake. Several officials of the Biden administration warned about the looming collapse of the Kyiv regime. State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said that Washington would run out of support money very soon.

Joseph Biden's national security adviser Jake Sullivan confirmed that once the United States runs out of money to help Ukraine, arms supplies to Kyiv will stop.

"There is no magical pot of funding available to meet this moment. We're [running] out of money-and [we are] nearly out of time.," Sullivan told reporters on December 4.

Zelensky's crocodile tears

In this regard, it is obvious that the White House is counting on Zelensky's strength as an actor to convince his "viewers” with emotions.

Let's try to imagine how Zelensky is going to do it.

Zelensky will not demand it, as it cost him dearly earlier. Most likely, he will throw a pity party. Zelensky has shed tears when interacting with Western audiences before. This time, however, the Americans will not believe his crocodile tears. Instead they will ask:

"Why don't you have rounds, shells, missiles and tanks of your own? Why didn't you build a single defence plant in preparation for war, but instead ruined the ones that existed?”

Another thesis that Zelensky may resort to in his speech is a hackneyed one as well: "If you don't help us, Russia will fight you on your territory.” This is a dubious statement, because this would be a completely different war, not a special military operation. Russia does not need it, and neither does the United States.

Thesis No. 3: "At least promise that you will give us money, promise that we will join NATO, then we will "grow wings.” Men can promise a lot, so what? They may promise, but they won't give money.

According to Bloomberg, the vote in Congress on the financial assistance for Ukraine for the next fiscal year will take place no earlier than December 11. On December 15, senators will go on vacation before mid-January. Time is running out indeed.

Reasons to delay financial support for Ukraine

The bill to allocate funds to Ukraine was stuck in the House of Representatives. Republicans want the White House to explain what goals Washington sets in Ukraine. They also want Zelensky to account for the billions spent.

Senators demand that the funding for Ukraine should be linked with measures to contain migrants on the US southern border. US Senator Ron Johnson said in an interview with The Hill that "Putin is not going to lose this war” because Russia had resources and nuclear weapons. Johnson proposed starting negotiations between Russia and Ukraine.

"This war has to end,” Johnson said in the interview. "We're not gonna like the result, but every day that goes by, we're gonna like the result less.”

Even hawkish Russophobe of the Senate, Lindsey Graham, who back in the summer said that "Russians dying" was "the best money the US has spent", is unwilling to help Ukraine because the US needs to focus on its own domestic crises, including the migration one.

'Russians dying' no longer profitable for America

This is the key to understanding the problem. Nothing personal, just business. When business is no longer successful, one will not invest in it anymore.

All those people in the US establishment talked about Russia's imminent defeat a few months ago. Now Ukraine will be to blame for everything — this is how they will explain their defeat to voters.