Zelenskyy speaks with Johnson as House considers possible paths to Ukraine aid

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy spoke with Speaker Mike Johnson on Thursday, the wartime leader said, as the House mulls how to proceed on additional aid funding for Kyiv.

"In this situation, quick passage of US aid to Ukraine by Congress is vital," Zelenskyy wrote in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter. "We recognize that there are differing views in the House of Representatives on how to proceed, but the key is to keep the issue of aid to Ukraine as a unifying factor."

Zelenskyy said he briefed the speaker on the battlefield situation, "specifically the dramatic increase in Russia's air terror." POLITICO has reached out to Johnson's office about the call.

The Senate passed a bipartisan national security measure in mid-February with funds for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, though the House has not yet taken it up. A significant bloc of House Republicans vehemently oppose additional funding for Ukraine.

"Ukraine should not get any more money," Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) said on Steve Bannon's program on Thursday. "Funding that war has been a money laundering operation."