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WHITE HOUSE —U.S. President Joe Biden is hosting President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the White House Thursday, where the Ukrainian leader is set to discuss his plans for winning the war against Russia, as Republicans accuse him of "election interference."
Zelenskyy is scheduled to meet separately with Democratic presidential nominee and Vice President Kamala Harris following his meeting with Biden. However, no plans have been announced for a meeting with Republican presidential nominee and former President Donald Trump, who has in recent days increased his criticism that the U.S. continues to "give billions of dollars to a man who refuses to make a deal" to end the war.
Meanwhile, Congressional Republicans are demanding that the Ukrainian leader fire his ambassador to the U.S., Oksana Markarova, for organizing Zelenskyy's visit Monday to an ammunition factory in Pennsylvania, a hotly contested battleground state in the November presidential election.
In a letter to Zelenskyy, Republican House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson said the visit to the factory that made munitions for Ukraine was a "partisan campaign event designed to help Democrats" that amounts to "election interference."
"Support for ending Russia's war against Ukraine continues to be bipartisan, but our relationship is unnecessarily tested and needlessly tarnished when the candidates at the top of the Republican presidential ticket are targeted in the media by officials in your government," Johnson said.
On Wednesday Trump suggested that Biden and Harris are at fault for prolonging the war that followed Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
"Biden and Kamala allowed this to happen by feeding Zelenskyy money and munitions like no country has ever seen before," Trump said. He argued that Kyiv should have made concessions to Moscow before Russian troops attacked, asserting that Ukraine is now "in rubble" and in no position to negotiate the war's end.
"Any deal - the worst deal - would've been better than what we have now," Trump said.
New aid announced
Ahead of Zelenskyy's visit, the U.S. administration announced $8 billion in new aid for Ukraine. In a statement, Biden said the aid includes a Patriot missile battery and missiles, as well as air-to-ground munitions and a precision-guided glide bomb with a range of up to 130 kilometers.
The administration is also expanding training for Ukrainian F-16 pilots to include an additional 18 pilots next year.
"For nearly three years, the United States has rallied the world to stand with the people of Ukraine as they defend their freedom from Russian aggression, and it has been a top priority of my administration to provide Ukraine with the support it needs to prevail," Biden said.
Zelenskyy thanked the U.S., saying the new aid included "the items that are most critical to protecting our people."
"We will use this assistance in the most efficient and transparent manner to achieve our major common goal: victory for Ukraine, just and lasting peace, and transatlantic security," Zelenskyy said on social media platform X.
The pair spoke briefly on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, during which Zelenskyy thanked Biden for U.S. support for Ukraine and gave an update on the situation on the front lines.
Among the expected topics to be discussed by the leaders Thursday include Ukraine's request for weapons donors to allow Ukrainian forces to use the weapons to strike targets deeper inside Russia. Ukrainian leaders say such strikes are needed to degrade Russia's ability to carry out its daily missile and drone attacks.