In the aftermath of the US election, Ukrainian lawmakers will contact Washington

Officials are optimistic that Washington will continue to support the war effort. But a delegation is planning a trip to meet lawmakers from both sides.

kyiv, Ukraine — Throughout the war with Russia, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, complained about the unwillingness of the United States to provide the powerful and accurate weapons his country needed. Until recently, he hadn't had to worry about the feed being reduced or even cut off.

But in the weeks leading up to Election Day in the States United, with a drumbeat of predictions about a Republican sweep of both houses of Congress, those fears became uncomfortably real as leading Republicans spoke of revisiting the 'blank check' policy for Ukraine.

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Ukrainian officials, trained in US politics and the need for bipartisan support, remained staunchly apolitical in the weeks leading up to Tuesday's vote. On Wednesday, as the predicted red wave appeared to be more of a ripple, officials expressed cautious optimism that the existential threat of an aid cutoff is diminishing.

Volodymyr Ariev, a deputy from the opposition European Solidarity party, said it would be particularly worrying to see the extent of the victories of far-left or far-right candidates, Democrats or Republicans, who criticized aid to Ukraine or advocated a quick diplomatic settlement that would be anathema to the Ukrainian government.

Mr. Ariev, who is organizing a delegation of Ukrainian lawmakers to travel to Washington in December, said: “We understand one thing: the danger we see from the so-called radical wings of both parties, the far-right Republicans and the Democrats. far left. They could start a conversation about stopping aid to Ukraine.

Ukraine, he said, should strive to maintain bipartisan support regardless of the outcome. “We need to maintain our contact and communication with both parties. We need to expand it, we need to intensify it, and we need to talk to both sides to get their support. arms to the Ukrainian army. But throughout the war, the Biden administration carefully calibrated arms assistance to Ukraine, withholding longer-range and more powerful weapons for fear of Ukrainian strikes on Russian territory that could drag NATO down. in the war.

The United States nevertheless adopted increasingly powerful and sophisticated artillery and rocket launchers as the war progressed, and just this week they delivered a state-of-the-art air defense missile system, called NASAM, to defend against Iranian-made missile and drone strikes on cities and power plants.

ImageThe United States just delivered an advanced air defense system, called NASAMS, to help protect cities and Ukrainian infrastructure against Russian attacks. Credit...Toms Kalnins/EPA, via Shutterstock

Mr. Ariev said the delegation would include a dozen deputies from the ruling party, Servant of the People, and the main opposition parties, European Solidarity, Fatherland and Holos. They will attend a security conference and seek to meet with newly elected US lawmakers from the Democratic and Republican parties, he said.

Mr. Ariev said he would propose a greater role for the U.S. Congress and government agencies in overseeing U.S. military and financial assistance inside Ukraine, to "remove the suspicions we've been hearing over campaign that it's not transparent".

He added, "We should trust our partners like our partners trust us, this should be a mutual thing."...