US Pro-War Media Coverage of Zelensky’s Washington Trip Obsesses Over Military Aid

At his press conference with Joe Biden on Wednesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky urged Washington to stay the course in supporting Kiev in its battle with the Russian “non-humans,” calling for more financial assistance and sophisticated weapons systems.

Zelensky’s host offered assurances that America would “stay with Ukraine as long as there is a Ukraine,” and as usual, stumbled through some of his lines, at one point promising to support the “uranian people,” and calling Zelensky "President Walensky."

After a series of photo ops with Biden, Zelensky addressed a joint session of Congress, asking for artillery shells and cannons, and asking the US to slap even more sanctions on Moscow, comparing his country’s Western-backed proxy conflict with Russia to the American Revolutionary War.

The US will have sent Ukraine more than $105 billion in economic and military assistance in 2022 if and when Congress manages to finalize the $1.7 trillion 2023 omnibus budget deal later this week. Ahead of Zelensky’s trip, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced a new $1.85 billion weapons package to Kiev, including a Patriot missile system. The assistance reportedly includes $1 billion in arms directly from the US military’s own stocks, including the Patriot battery, HIMARS ammunition, 155mm precision-guided artillery rounds, tens of thousands of mortar rounds, MRAP vehicles, JADM missiles, grenade launchers, small arms, claymore mines, night vision devices, communications systems, tank gun rounds, and BM-21 Grad rocket ammo.

But the outlays are not enough for some US media, whose coverage of Zelensky’s trip played up concerns that the US’ future support for Ukraine won’t be able to match levels achieved in 2022, which put tens of billions of dollars in cash in American weapons makers’ pockets, and billions more into the pockets of lobbyists, officials, and oligarchs in Washington and Kiev.

Mainstream reporting has generally split into two categories: lavish praise and flattery for Zelensky and Biden, usually laced with trigger words including "democracy," "freedom," and "tyranny," and fearmongering reports about what would happen if aid flows suddenly stopped or were reduced.

---

The Jeff Bezos-owned Washington Post, for example, hailed the trip in a piece titled “Zelensky’s visit yields remarkable moment for two presidents,” and featured a laudatory tribute to Zelensky and Biden with epithets so glorious even attendees of a convention of sycophants blush.

“Capping a year in which they each faced long odds and defied gloomy predictions, the two men stood side by side at the White House…President Biden in a blue suit, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in an olive-green military shirt and heavy boots,” WaPo White House Bureau chief Toluse Olorunnipa wrote. “The stark sartorial contrast was one of the few differences on display as Biden and Zelensky praised one another and presented a united front…The visit underscored how the relationship between the two men – a 44-year-old born in what was then the USSR and an octogenarian born in Scranton, Pa – has unexpectedly become one of the most vital partnerships in global affairs.”

---