Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Saturday as part of an announced visit to Kyiv.
Mr. McConnell, Kentucky Republican, was joined by a delegation of Senate Republicans including Sens. John Barrasso of Wyoming, Susan Collins of Maine and John Cornyn of Texas.
“It was an honor to meet with President Zelenskyy and his senior advisors and to stand in solidarity with the heroic people of Ukraine,” the Minority Leader said in a statement. “It was inspiring to visit the historic capital of a beautiful country that has been forced to fight for its own survival.”
He said that the delegation reaffirmed that the U.S. is committed to sustaining its support “until Ukraine wins this war.”
Mr. Zelenskyy’s office first shared details of the visit in, calling the lawmakers “true friends of Ukraine.”
“Today, our state has solid bipartisan [sic] and bipartisan support of American friends. And of the American people,” Andrii Sybiha, an adviser to Mr. Zelenskyy, said on Facebook Saturday.
The Senate is poised to pass a $40 billion military and economic aid package for Ukraine with strong bipartisan support, despite hitting a snag on Thursday over demands by Sen. Rand Paul, Kentucky Republican, to include language which would create a special inspector general to oversee the disbursal of military aid to Ukraine.
The House overwhelmingly approved the aid package 368-57 on Tuesday. The new package brings total U.S. support for the war to nearly $54 billion once approved by the Senate.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, California Democrat, led a delegation of House Democrat lawmakers to Kyiv earlier this month to meet with Mr. Zelenskyy and express Congress’ bipartisan support for Ukraine.
• Joseph Clark can be reached at jclark@washingtontimes.com.
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