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Zelenskyy Showed Up to Congress. Will Congress Show Up for Him Next Term?

“The idea that these are going to be able to continue in perpetuity is not politically realistic,” Sen. Dan Sullivan told NOTUS.

Zelenskyy, Schumer, McConnell
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy walks with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer as he arrives for a briefing with lawmakers about the war effort against Russia. J. Scott Applewhite/AP

Almost two years ago, Volodymyr Zelenskyy addressed a joint session of Congress in a jam-packed House chamber.

Hundreds of Republican and Democratic lawmakers hung around late on the Wednesday before Christmas to hear from the embattled Ukrainian president. His speech — which Nancy Pelosi deemed Churchill-esqe — earned him a standing ovation from both sides of the aisle. He accepted an American flag from Pelosi, and in return, he gifted the then-speaker a Ukrainian flag signed by frontline soldiers. It was a widely celebrated, front-page photo op 10 months after Russia’s invasion.

Zelenskyy’s visit to Capitol Hill this Thursday looked and felt nothing like that.