For months, Ukrainian officials have carefully navigated the turbulent partisan politics in the United States leading up to November’s elections, saying that they could work with either a Democratic or Republican administration.
But on Wednesday night, Mike Johnson, the Republican speaker of the House, called for Ukraine to fire its ambassador to Washington, accusing her of meddling in American election affairs.
In a public letter addressed to President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine, Mr. Johnson demanded the dismissal of the Ukrainian ambassador, Oksana Markarova, citing her role in organizing a visit by Mr. Zelensky to an ammunition factory in Scranton, Pa. Mr. Zelensky toured the factory this week and thanked workers for manufacturing shells sent to his country’s embattled forces.
Mr. Johnson criticized the visit for taking place in a key battleground state in the company of Gov. Josh Shapiro, a Democrat who supports Vice President Kamala Harris in her presidential bid. The speaker noted that no Republicans were invited.
“The tour was clearly a partisan campaign event designed to help Democrats and is clearly election interference,” Mr. Johnson wrote in the letter on Wednesday.
The same day, James Comer, a Republican who chairs the House Oversight Committee, announced that he had launched an investigation into the visit, saying it was a partisan event paid for with taxpayer funds.
Ukraine had not responded to Mr. Johnson’s demands about its ambassador as of Thursday morning.
The complaints are likely to complicate Mr. Zelensky’s primary objective this week: to push Washington to increase its financial and military aid to Kyiv, as part of his “victory plan” to force Russia to the negotiating table.
The Ukrainian leader will meet with President Biden at the White House on Thursday, as well as holding several meetings in Congress.
Ahead of the meeting, Mr. Biden announced nearly $8 billion in military assistance to Ukraine. Roughly $5.5 billion is not new funding, but its disbursement is aimed at ensuring financial support for Kyiv, at least in the short term, even if former President Donald J. Trump wins the presidential election.
The money will go to the so-called presidential drawdown authority shipments that send weapons and matériel from the Pentagon’s stockpile.
Another $2.4 billion in aid will be channeled through a program that allows the administration to purchase weapons for Ukraine directly from manufacturers rather than depleting U.S. stocks.
The announcement, however, did not mention any authorization for Ukraine to fire Western-made long-range missiles into Russia, which Kyiv has long lobbied for. Mr. Zelensky recently said that the White House was afraid that such an authorization would escalate the war.
In what appeared an effort to play on those fears, President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia said on Wednesday that Russia would be prepared to use a nuclear weapon in response to an attack carried out with conventional weapons by a nonnuclear state, but with the participation or support of a nuclear one. Dmitri S. Peskov, the Kremlin’s spokesman, said Mr. Putin’s decision was meant as a message to Ukraine’s Western backers.
The Ukrainian authorities have long tried to remain neutral in the American presidential campaign, although they have tried to build bridges in both camps to advance their interests.
Earlier this year, they lobbied Mr. Johnson to help pass a multibillion-dollar aid package for Ukraine. Republicans have long been skeptical about providing support to Ukraine, and Mr. Trump’s vice-presidential choice, JD Vance, has been deeply critical of previous United States aid packages for Kyiv.
In recent weeks, relations with the Republican camp have deteriorated as the U.S. election campaign picked up pace, with Mr. Trump increasingly denouncing American aid to Ukraine while touting a plan, for which he has offered no details, to quickly broker a peace deal.
In an interview published on Sunday with The New Yorker, Mr. Zelensky questioned that plan, which many in Kyiv fear would leave Russia in control of vast swathes of Ukrainian territory. He also described Mr. Vance as “too radical.”
On Wednesday, Mr. Trump accused Mr. Zelensky of refusing to negotiate a peace deal with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia.
“The president of Ukraine is in our country. He is making little nasty aspersions toward your favorite president, me,” Mr. Trump said during a campaign event in North Carolina. “We continue to give billions of dollars to a man who refuses to make a deal: Zelensky.”
Volodymyr Ariev, an opposition lawmaker in Ukraine, said the absence of Republican representatives during Mr. Zelensky’s visit to the ammunition factory had been a critical misstep.
“Trump’s team doesn’t have a very friendly attitude to Zelensky, and any excuse for blaming him will be used,” Mr. Ariev said. “So prudence was supposed to be at the maximum level to not give them a single reason.”
“No matter who wins, the main question for Ukraine is to maintain U.S. support,” he said.
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