| Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will arrive on Capitol Hill today as President Biden’s request for an additional $110 billion U.S. aid package for Ukraine, Israel, and other national security needs remains at serious risk of collapse in Congress. Republicans in Congress, fueled by new House Speaker Mike Johnson’s (R-LA) far-right allies in the House, have demanded changes to U.S. border and immigration policies in exchange for any additional funds for Ukraine. Today, Zelensky will first visit Capitol Hill, where Senate Majority Leader Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Senator Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) have organized a closed-door meeting with senators. He is also expected to meet with Johnson. Later in the afternoon, he is scheduled to meet with Biden at the White House and hold a joint news conference. Zelensky also spoke at the Pentagon-funded National Defense University in Washington, DC on Monday, where he asked the U.S. to maintain its support for Ukraine.
Ahead of Zelensky’s meetings with Biden and lawmakers, the White House late Monday pointed to newly declassified intelligence that shows Ukraine has inflicted heavy losses on Russia in recent fighting along the Avdiivka-Novopavlivka axis — including 13,000 casualties and over 220 combat vehicle losses. The Ukrainian holdout in the country’s partly-occupied east has been the center of some of the fiercest fighting in recent weeks. U.S. intelligence officials have determined that the Russians think if they can achieve a military deadlock through the winter it will drain Western support for Ukraine and ultimately give Russia the advantage, despite the fact that Russians have sustained heavy losses and have been slowed by persistent shortages of trained personnel, munitions, and equipment. “Russia is determined to press forward with its offensive despite its losses. It is more critical now than ever that we maintain our support for Ukraine so they can continue to hold the line and regain their territory,” said White House National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson. She added that Russian President Vladimir Putin “is clearly watching what happens in Congress — and we need Congress to act this month to support Ukraine in its time of need.”
Meanwhile, Alexei Navalny, Russia’s leading opposition figure, is missing from the penal colony where he has been imprisoned and his whereabouts are unknown, his spokeswoman and other allies said, prompting concern in Washington about his condition. Navalny, a critic of Putin, has not been heard from for nearly a week, Nalvany’s team said on X. In recent weeks he had become ill and was put on an IV by prison staff. The team said that when his lawyers asked on Monday about his whereabouts in two penal colonies in the Vladimir region, east of Moscow, where he had been recently held, they were told he was not at either one. The State Department said the U.S. has reached out to Russia over Navalny but has no information about his whereabouts. “We are deeply concerned for Mr. Navalny’s well-being after his lawyers have stated that they have not been able to contact him for almost a week now,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said at a briefing. The Kremlin dismissed concerns today, stating, “Here we are talking about a prisoner who has been found guilty under the law and is serving his sentence. And here we consider any interference by anyone, including the U.S., as unacceptable and impossible.” Washington Post, New York Times, Reuters, Bloomberg, The Hill, Wall Street Journal, CNN, ABC News
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